


Students Of S.H.I.E.L.D

by AgentSkyeMorse



Series: Selective Training Undertaken for Developing and Educating Noteable Teenaged Specialists [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 'May Said' Is Perfectly Good Motivation To Do Something, 10 Feet Ward, A Beautiful Alluring Womanly Spy, Bobbi Doesn't Speak Russian, Bobbi Finds Out What Happened In Hunan, Bobbi Is Starting A Swear Jar Now, Everyone Has A Soft Spot For Everyone, Everyone Speaks Russian Except Bobbi, Except When It's An Avenger, Gen, Hunter Has A List Of Beautiful Dangerous Women, Hunter Knows That S.H.I.E.L.D Is Trying To Turn Skye Into One Of Them, It's a Sequel!, Kid Fic, Kid Skye | Daisy Johnson, Nobody Messes With Bobbi's Kid, Skye Is Neither A Teenager Nor An Agent, Skye Is Still Called Skye, Skye Is Too Old For A Babysitter, Teenagers And Agents Swear A Lot, Ward Isn't A Bad Guy, Weird British Flirting, teen Bobbi Morse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 18:03:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4886470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentSkyeMorse/pseuds/AgentSkyeMorse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Did you say you were lost in Canada at four in the morning?” Hunter demanded and she had to pull the phone away from her ear because he was shouting.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Seriously, Hunter-” Bobbi sighed.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Why are you lost in Canada at four in the morning?”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I’m not lost.” She found a map in the bag. And a compass. Now she knew where North was! “I have a map.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“There’s no star saying where we are.” Skye frowned, staring at the map.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Yes, I can tell you have everything under control.”<i></i></i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. History Of The Skye

Bobbi held her arms up over her head, ignoring the ache in her fractured and bruised ribs. Then she leant forward and took a deep breath so the doctor could test her lungs. Then a check of the stitches in her right wrist, then her head... It was all very tiring.

“Healing nicely.” The Doctor commented when she’d finished her examination. “No rigorous activity for another couple of weeks.” Bobbi nodded, pulling her shirt back on - luckily she didn’t have to go braless too. “Which means you can stop training with Agent May.”

“But-” The blonde tried to argue.

“No buts, you’re healing, and part of healing means not getting more injuries.” Bobbi grumbled to herself as she left the medical wing of the super secret, technically-doesn’t-exist underground base in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.

“Hey, Kid.” Skye was waiting in the open area of the medical wing, sitting on a bed and absently scratching at her cast. Apparently she’d refractured her left wrist during her kidnapping, she had a habit of breaking bones when she was taken places against her will. It made Bobbi want to go back to Mexico and kill every one of the assholes that had been in the place... But, right now she’d settle for the one that was on base. Ward.

“Hey.” Skye looked up from her cast with a smile. Bobbi had been the first one to write on the plaster with a bold black marker, but not long after that Hunter had attacked the poor girls arm with a multitude of colors. “Can we go?”

“Good to go.” Bobbi threw an arm around her shoulders as they left. “I’m practically healed already.” Brown eyes peaked up doubtfully at Blue, but didn’t say anything. “I’m fine, Skye.”

“I’m hungry.” The girl said after a minute as they wandered slowly and aimlessly through the base. A base that technically they weren’t even meant to be at.

“Then let’s get you fed.” The kitchen was big and functional. Everything in the base was functional... Except for the gaming system Agent Koenig had in his office and the pictures on the walls that simulated windows. Agent May was already in the kitchen, preparing vegetables, she barely glanced up when they walked in.

“Make yourself useful.” Skye yelped, but Bobbi just caught the carrot that was thrown at her head.

“What’re you making?” Skye hopped up onto a stool and watched the two work in silence. It almost felt domestic to Bobbi.

“Something you’ve probably never had before.” May answered, tossing something into a pan on the stove.

“How do you know?”

“Because it’s healthy.” May smirked, Skye huffed and crossed her arms awkwardly around her cast. “How was the medical?”

“Same as a week ago.” Bobbi shrugged dismissively. “Have you guys decided what’s going to happen?” The ‘with us’ was silent, but heard loud an clearly.

“Time and place, Morse.” The older woman shook her head, her eyes darting to Skye pointedly.

The door to the kitchen opened and all three turned to see Lance Hunter. “Well, I was just going to get something to eat.” He started, they weren’t blinking. None of them. It was creepy. “But, since two of you can kill me I think I’ll come back later.”

“Sit.” May rolled her eyes and turned back to her vegetables.

“Right, I’ll sit.” Hunter sat at the opposite end of the bench to them. “I’m sitting. Lovely. Fantastic.” Skye stole a piece of Bobbi’s carrot as she sliced it, keeping an eye on Hunter. “Well, this has been fun, Ladies, but I think I’ll-”

“Dice.” May dropped a bag of meat in front of him and slid a knife over.

“Really, I think I’d be-” He cut himself off at one hard look from May, reaching for the knife. “Got it, dice.”

“What can I do?” Skye asked, stealing another piece of carrot.

“You’re doing it.” May said and Bobbi might have seen a smile but it was gone as quick as it came so it could have just been a trick of the light. “You’re supervising.”

“Why can’t I do that?” Hunter whined from his end of the bench where he was carefully dicing the chicken - probably afraid to face May’s wrath if even a single piece was wrong. “I’m much more qualified and-”

“Dice.” May just said which was enough to make him look back down to the chicken. Skye giggled, maybe she could get May to teach her how to do that.

A nearly silent twenty minutes later the two teenagers and one preteen were ordered out of the kitchen to wash their hands and tell everyone else lunch was ready, with May calling after them to make sure Hunter used soap. The man grumbled the entire time to the bathroom that he knew how to wash his hand, thank-you very much, but made a show of using the soap when he got there.

“You know where Coulson’s office is, right Kid?” Bobbi helped Skye keep the water and soap away from her cast.

“Yeah.” The girl hummed, wiping her hands on her shirt instead of using the paper towels.

“Good. Take Hunter, I don’t trust him running around here alone.” Both girls ignored the mans sputtering that he was the adult in the room right now, he didn’t need the 11-year-old to babysit him.

“Where are you going?” Little fingers tried to squirm their way into her cast, but the blonde stopped them. She’d also made sure the kid hadn’t been within six feet of bacon since getting her arm recast.

“Ward.” She was halfway out the door when Skye stopped her. “I’m just going to tell him lunch is ready.” She assured with a forced smile. The kid was way too perceptive for her own good. She could take Ward, she knew it, they were in the same hand to hand class and her win streak was only a little better than his. But, she was going to wait until her ribs stopped hurting to kick his ass.

“Wouldn’t it make sense to send the little one to get the teenager and the teenager to get the Agent?” Hunter furrowed his brow as he followed Skye. Which he was doing because he wanted to, not because Bobbi told him to.

“Bobbi doesn’t trust Ward anymore.” The girl kicked at the floor as she walked, dropping her head. “Bobbi, Izzy and Ward were best friends before, but now Ward isn’t allowed within ten feet of me.”

“The bloke from Mexico that shot up the place?” To tell the truth, Hunter hadn’t seen the other boy much in the three weeks since he’d been introduced to S.H.I.E.L.D. He kept mostly to himself, or locked in Coulson’s office.

“He was there when I was kidnapped.” Or at least he said he was, and he was there when she was being held in that cell.

“Well, that would throw a spanner in the trust thing.” Hunter nodded, knocking on the door to Coulson’s office and waiting for an answer... Well, he was trying to be the adult here, but Skye just walked in without waiting. And Bobbi said she was more mature, at least he knocked before entering.

“Skye!” Coulson looked surprised, tapping at a few things on his computer. “What are you doing here? Where’s Morse?”

“Getting Ward, it’s lunch time.”

“I’m kind of busy right now, Skye.” Coulson shook his head, picking up a handful of papers to prove his point.

“May said.” Hunter didn’t know if it was the threat of May or the puppydog eyes turned on the man, but he sighed and got up. As they started for the kitchen again Hunter might have heard Coulson mutter something along the lines of ‘this is why we don’t have kids on base’.

* * *

 

“Morse. A word.” Agent May called as she passed the room where the teenagers were meant to be studying, but it looked suspiciously like board games.

“Coming!” Bobbi yelled after the woman as she kept walking, glance around the table. She could make a case that they had been helping Skye with her spelling since they were playing Scrabble... “Skye, keep an eye on Hunter. Ward, four feet from Skye. Hunter, make sure Ward is four feet from Skye. Ten when the game is over.” The blonde commanded before running after the senior Agent. “Agent May?”

“Coulson’s office.” Bobbi’s heart was racing, something was wrong. What was wrong? Surely, she wouldn’t be called to Coulson’s office just because they were playing Scrabble.

“Good, you’re here.” When they walked into the office it was already full of people. Agent Coulson, Agent Hill, Agent Hand, supposed-to-be-dead Director Fury and - Holy Hell - Agent Romanoff. Bobbi was in a room with the top-ranking, most dangerous Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Am I going to die now?” She blonde flushed when she realised she’d said it out loud, but Romanoff just laughed.

“Not today.” The red-head denied.

“This is about the girl, Morse.” Director Fury spoke, the girl? What girl? There was only one girl and that was-

“Whatever Skye did I’ll fix it.” Oh, jeez, please don’t say she had hacked something she wasn’t meant to again. They hadn’t put the nanny bracelet back on her, but she didn’t think Skye had been around computers without her there since they got to the base.

“I’m curious as to why that was your first reaction.” Fury leaned forward and stared at her with his eye. It was intimidating.

“I’m not.” Hand snorted from her seat. “I’ve met the brat.”

“Agent Hill says you’re close to the girl, and maybe that’s something we’ll need.” Oh, Bobbi had a sinking feeling she was about to find out why most of Skye’s record was a Level 10 Classified file - except for the Orphanage records that were mostly public knowledge.

“Sit down, I don’t bite.” Romanoff was lounging on a couch against the wall and patted the seat next to her almost predatorily. “Much.” She flashed her pearly white teeth at Bobbi when she hesitantly sat down.

“This is about Skye?” Bobbi forced herself to look away and grow a back bone. So she was an untrained 17-year-old who had stolen a car and run away from S.C.H.O.L.A.R against direct orders in a room full of the most dangerous Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D... No big deal, right?

“Do you know what an Oh-Eight-Four is, Miss Morse?” Okay, Director Fury, the Big Boss of S.H.I.E.L.D was talking to her, knew her by name.

“An object of unknown origin.” She answered automatically, Agent May was the one that taught History, which included the history of S.H.I.E.L.D and it’s beginnings as the S.S.R.

“Right. And you know they can be powerful.” Fury continued, “destructive in the wrong hands, helpful in the right ones.” Bobbi nodded under the scrutiny of his eye. “Your friend out there, Mary Sue Poots-” she forced herself not to correct him about her name. “-Skye. That harmless little girl with the big brown eyes that you fell in love with, Miss Morse, is an Oh-Eight-Four.”

“What?” He’d said it was such seriousness, but he had to be joking, right? Skye was a kid, not some magical alien thing that could be a weapon. Right?

“That kid down there playing Scrabble with Ward and that English boy you picked up; SHIELD found her in China eleven years ago.” It made sense, she looked at least part Asian. “An entire village was decimated, it was a blood bath, we lost a lot of men that day.” Bobbi looked around at everyone else in the room. Coulson was frowning, Hill had pursed her lips, Hand had her arms crossed, May and Romanoff looked blank - a little too blank. “The thing at the centre of it all was an Oh-Eight-Four...” Romanoff handed her a picture and the blonde wished she hadn’t; a baby probably only a few months under a year old covered in blood with her little eyes closed. In the picture with all that blood and her eyes closed, she looked dead.  
Another picture was handed to her and the queasy feeling eased a little; the baby was cleaned up and awake, a pair of familiar brown eyes staring out through the photo. Skye. “The team that found her, they didn’t know what was going on, just that a lot of people were dying and that baby was why.” Fury started talking again and Bobbi forced her eyes away from the pictures. “You know about the protocol to keep the kid moving, for her safety and everyone around her.” Hill shifted a little, maybe she wasn’t meant to know that already? “This is classified information, it was deleted before Romanoff’s big information dump, the only people who know about it are in this room.”

Six people, and now her.

“We want to keep that kid close.” One brown eye stared at her. “And she seems to like you an awful lot. Why is that?” Why was that? Bobbi didn’t know, she just knew the kid had wormed her way into her heart and refused to leave.

“I made her a promise.” The blonde murmured, the day after they met, in the hallway of the seldom-used Index wing at S.C.H.O.L.A.R. “I made her a promise and I kept it... I guess no-one had kept a promise to her before. Agent Hill always said never make promises you can’t keep, so I made sure I kept it.”

“That’s sweet.” Romanoff commented, her tone completely monotonous.

“The thing with that now, Morse, is that if someone wants to get at that girl, you’ve made it quite clear to HYDRA that they’re going to have to go through you.” Well, if that didn’t paint a target on her back nothing would. “So we have to make sure they can’t get through you.”

Bobbi furrowed her, she hadn’t even been able to take down three of those men in the barbershop without getting knocked out. If it weren’t for Ward shooting the men during the escape attempt they all would have been dead and Skye would still be in Mexico.

“It takes Agents years to hone their skills, you don’t have years.”

“Instead you get a month with me.” The predatory look was back in Romanoff’s eye and it made Bobbi kind of wish that she was here to die because that would surely be less painful. Sure, she’d been training with May, but the older woman had been going easy on her - as evidenced by the fact that she was still alive - if anything about Romanoff was true then she’d be dead five minutes into the first lesson.

“Before that can happen.” Hill spoke up, picking up a folder from Coulson’s desk. “You’re still a minor, Morse.” Right. 17. Hunter hadn’t kissed her since they were rescued because of that... Now was so not the time to think about Lance Hunter. “After HYDRA led an attack on the school we had to send the students home-” the school was attacked? How had that not come up at all in the last three weeks? “-everyone is fine.” Did that include Izzy? Fitz, Simmons, Trip? “You need to get your parents to sign your emancipation or you won’t be training, you’ll be spending the next six months at high school in Georgia.”

“You can leave tomorrow, but we expect you back here by the New Year.” Fury stated as the folder was pushed into the teenagers hands.

“Tomorrow?” This was too fast. Half an hour ago she was playing Scrabble, now she needs to get emancipated so the Black freaking Widow can train her to protect Skye who is apparently some sort of 084 that was the reason an entire village in Chine was slaughtered?

“Best introduce Romanoff to your kid before you go.” The red-head in question stood up so Bobbi took that as her dismissal. “She’s going to watch the kid while you’re gone.”


	2. To Kiss A Mockingbird

Skye was sitting exactly where Bobbi had left her in what had become the unofficial rec room for the non-Agents. Ward was opposite her and quick glance said that, yes, he was at least four feet away. Hunter was slouching with his arms crossed and a pout on his soft lips, glaring at the Scrabble board. It wasn’t hard to guess who was losing.

“Look, you can put Condors up from the S and hit the Triple Word Score.” Skye was leaning over from her seat to look at Hunters tiles.

“I can do it on my own.” Hunter swiped his tiles away from her line of sight.

“Take her advice, Hunter.” Bobbi smirked, going over to check the score sheet. “There’s no shame in admitting she’s smarter than you.”

“There’s no-” the Englishman stopped when his eyes fell on Romanoff, standing by the door and watching the group with a smirk. “Well hello, Love, _please_ tell me you’re not seventeen too.”

“If you want to keep your eyes, keep them away from me.” Romanoff said, barely even glancing at Hunter.

“Great, wonderful.” Hunter muttered, “do you mind giving me your name? I just have a list of beautiful women who can kill me and I’d like to keep it up to date.”

“Quit while you’re alive.” That just made Hunter gulp and stare pointedly at his tiles. “I’m not here for a social visit, Morse.”

“Right.” The blonde stopped surveying the Scrabble board while smirking to herself. “Can you come with us for a minute, Skye?”

“‘Kay.” Brown eyes darted from crystal blue to Romanoff’s green.

“Great, I might actually have a chance-”

“Give it up, Hunter, you’re down by a hundred with five letters left.” Bobbi rolled her eyes, Romanoff was already leaving the room so she led Skye out as well, leaving the boys to themselves. Probably not a smart thing to do, but she didn’t have much choice in the matter.

“That was Natasha Romanoff.” She heard Ward when they were out the door. “The **Black Widow**.”

Bobbi really shouldn’t have been surprised that Agent Romanoff knew where her room was in the base. She shouldn’t have been, but she was. The red-head had led them straight through the base to the bunk that was technically meant for only her, but Skye usually slept there too.

“Here, Hill went to that stupid ass place and got you guys some stuff.” There were two S.H.I.E.L.D issue duffle bags sitting on the bed and a backpack on the floor next to it.

“Yes!” Skye sat on the floor and peaked through her bag before hugging it to her chest with a happy smile. “So, what’s so important?” She looked up at the teenager and assassin, one of whom looked amused and the other bored.

“Skye, this is Ag-”

“Natasha.” The red-head cut in, “my name is Natasha, Skye.

“You’re an Avenger.” Skye stated matter-of-factly. “You were on TV last week talking about SHIELD.”

“I was.” The woman nodded.

“Is it scary? Fighting those aliens and the HYDRA guys?” Green eyes narrowed at the child and Bobbi was actually worried that the woman might hurt her kid. She’d try and stop it - of course she would - but there wasn’t anything she could actually do against the Black Widow. “Are you afraid you’ll die?”

“No.” Natasha sat on the floor, opposite Skye, but with several feet between them. “If I die then it’s because I was trying to do the right thing; trying to save lives instead of take them.”

“Cool.” Skye nodded, Bobbi sat on the floor as well so they were all on equal ground. The bunk wasn’t really big enough for three of them to sit comfortably for long periods of time. “Are you here to take me away?” It was a full two minutes of silence before Skye spoke, her voice quiet and dejected. “‘Cause I don’t want to go and if you make I’ll just run away.” Her eyes darted to Bobbi and back, and she was biting her lip, refraining from going over to her.

“I’m not here to take you away, I’m going to stay with you for a while.” Natasha actually smiled at the girl, a comfort meant to assure her.

“I’m going to be going away for a while, Skye.” Bobbi told her, “I have to go do something and I’ll be gone for a while, but I’ll be back by the New Year.”

“You’re leaving?” Skye swallowed thickly.

“Just for a month or so.” After the way she’d reacted to May being reassigned the teen was worried. “I have to go see my parents and then I’ll be back here before you know it.”

“What if you want to stay?” The girls bottom lip made it’s way between her teeth. She wasn’t looking at anyone, but instead down at a spot on the floor. “What if you go back home and you want to stay with your parents?”

“Skye.” Bobbi crawled over with a sad smile on her lips. “Look at me, Miniature.” Brown eyes flickered up to Blue. “I miss my parents sure, I love them, and I always will.” Brown eyes looked back down with tears swimming in them. “But, I love you too, Kid, and this is my home now.” Skye still didn’t look up, “the second day we met what did I promise you?”

“You’d always come back to me.”

“And I’m not about to break that promise.” Bobbi smiled when Skye finally looked back up to her. “Okay?”

“Okay.” The girl nodded, the blonde leaned over and kissed the top of her head before settling with an arm around her shoulders in a half hug.

“Touching.” Natasha rolled her eyes. “No, really, it is.” She looked at the two kids for a moment, it really was kind of sweet that the little orphan girl had attached herself to the teenager. “I’m going to be staying with you while your little champion here is gone.”

“Why?” Skye cocked her head to the side. “I mean, it would be totally cool for the Black Widow to babysit me, but I’m eleven, I don’t really need a babysitter.”

“Babysitting isn’t really my specialty.” Natasha shook her head with a smirk. “Let’s just call it added security to the base and someone to keep you out of trouble in the top secret, hidden spy base.”

“Sounds like babysitting.” The brunette pointed out. “And if it looks like a monkey, sounds like a monkey and smells like a monkey-”

“It’s a monkey?” Natasha raised an eyebrow at her.

“No, it’s a Lance Hunter.” Skye giggled, “ _The_ Black Widow is gonna be my babysitter, I don’t even **care** that I’m too old for a babysitter.”

* * *

 

Agent May was sitting at the far right end of the breakfast bar with a bowl of cereal, Agent Hand was to her left with Hill, Romanoff, Bobbi and Skye continuing the line down the bench with their own bowls of cereal when Lance walked into the kitchen.

“I don’t think I’m hungry anymore.” Hunter commented, slowly backing out of the room.

“Come.” May beckoned before he could leave.

“Sit.” Hand urged.

“Eat.” Hill continued.

“Drink.” Natasha added with a wave of her spoon to the coffee maker.

“Enjoy.” Bobbi smirked, all six of them watched Hunter come into the room unblinkingly.

“Scary.” Hunter commented, eyeing them all, not sure which one to be more afraid of. “All bloody scary.” Natasha kept her eyes on him as she took a sip of coffee. Hunter refused to turn his back to them as he found a bowl and the milk. “Who ate the Lucky Charms?” That’s when Skye broke the row of serious, deadly women and burst out laughing. All six of them sitting in a row watching Hunter had a bowl of Lucky Charms.

“This is the guy?” Hill looked past Natasha to Bobbi.

“Yeah.” Bobbi flushed, poking at her cereal with her spoon. “That’s the guy.”

“You’ve been talking about me?” Hunter didn’t know if he should be flattered or afraid. Afraid, he decided under the glare of Agents May, Hill, Hand and Romanoff. “Why exactly have you - the _seventeen_ -year-old I was in a car with for twenty-four hours - been talking about me - the innocent Englishman - with your group of dangerous, deadly women?”

“It was you or the weather.” Natasha shrugged, “and this is Canada, the weather is cold; short conversation.”

“What sort of foreigner gets into a car with a teenaged girl that had just picked his pocket?” Hand shook her head, going back to her breakfast.

“I had-”

“And illegally crosses the border with a minor in the car.” Hill reminded.

“She-”

“He kissed Bobbi right before May rescued us.” Skye piped up, this time it wasn’t only Hunter that went red, Bobbi’s blush was nearly as bright.

“I think I’ll just go kill myself now.” Hunter announced cheerfully, nearly sprinting out of the room.

“What do you see in him?” Natasha shook her head, glancing at Bobbi who was still pink in the cheeks.

“He’s kind annoying in an endearing sort of way.” The blonde admitted, unable to help the small smile on her lips. Ward was the next one to walk in, cutting the conversation short.

“Come help me pack my bag, Kid.” Bobbi stood up, pushing her bowl away.

“I have to head back to New York after I drop the teenager off.” Hill stood up as well, May just left without a word and Hand muttered something about paperwork. Natasha looked Ward up and down, she’d read his report about Skye’s kidnapping and the two days that followed.

“I’ll leave you for Morse to deal with.” The assassin shook her head, her read hair flying for a second. Ward paled and gulped a little as she left as well, leaving him in an empty kitchen with six bowls of cereal and pot of hot coffee.

* * *

“Are your parents nice?” Skye was sitting cross-legged on Bobbi’s bed as the teenager sorted her clean and dirty laundry to decide what to take with her.

“Yeah,” Bobbi smiled. “They’re really nice, and loving, and sweet, and they would absolutely fall in love with you.” Because who wouldn’t? “And they let me go to SCHOLAR so that was really nice of them.”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“Just one baby sister.” The girls face dropped until Bobbi knelt in front of her. “You, Kiddo, you’re my baby sister.”

“I’m not a baby.” Skye huffed, though she was smiling.

“Prove it, show me your hands.” One in a cast that made it look even smaller and one that formerly held a nanny bracelet measured against her own. “Yep, sorry to break it to you, Kid, but you’ve still got itty bitty, teeny tiny baby hands.”

“I hate you.” The girl took her hands back to her lap.

“Love you too.” Bobbi zipped up her bag and stood up with a sigh. Hill said she had to be ready to leave by noon. It was nearly noon. “You gonna be okay with Natasha?”

“‘S’okay I guess.” Skye shrugged, reaching for her backpack. “Here.” Her fist pulled something out of her bag and held it out to the blonde.

“What’s this?” A loop of string and beads fell into her hand.

“I made it in art class ages ago and the teacher said we were meant to give them to our best friends so...” She looked away shyly.

“Thank-you.” Bobbi closed her hand around it, ignoring the tightness in her throat. “I’ll see you soon, Skye.” She kissed her forehead before standing up.

The plane Agent Hill was going to take her to Georgia in was a Stark issue, state of the art quinjet that had Skye completely enraptured when she saw it. Most of the people on the base had turned out for the farewell; Bobbi was going to Georgia, Hill was going to New York to work for Tony Stark, Hand was taking charge of tracking down as many HYDRA Agents as she could to cross them off, and May and Coulson were going to Portland to track down an escaped prisoner from the Fridge in their not-an-actual-bus-it’s-really-a-plane.

“She has a penchant for running, getting lost, and being kidnapped.” Bobbi listed to Natasha when the red-head turned up to the farewell. “When she gets kidnapped she breaks bones, when she runs she scratches and kicks, when she gets lost-”

“It’s one kid, Morse, I’ve handled worse.” Natasha rolled her eyes.

“Right. Sorry.” The blonde shook her head. She was leaving an 11-year-old with an expertly trained assassin/spy. An 11-year-old she’d know for barely three months and an Avenger - one of Earths Mightiest Heroes - no less. “Be good and do everything Natasha tells you.” Bobbi bent down to Skye’s level, bringing her into a hug.

“This is what happens when you make teenagers responsible for something.” Victoria rolled her eyes at Maria.

“Morse. Two minutes.” Maria yelled out instead of answering.

“Hey, Pick-Pocketing Minx!” Hunter ran with less than a minute before Bobbi had to get on the quinjet.

“Hunter.” She half smiled at him. He’d be gone by the time she got back. This was the last time she’d see the annoying Englishman that wouldn’t stop following her. He had to go back to England to start his basic training for the Royal Armed Forces.

Hunter came close. Close enough that she could see the gold in his eyes. “So I figure if this is the last time I’m gonna see you I should make it worth it.” He shoved his hands into his pockets.

“How you gonna do that?” Bobbi was dimly aware that there was an Avenger next to her covering Skye’s mouth with her hand.

“Number of ways I _could_ do it, but I think this one’s best-” He took that one step closer, pulling his hands out of his pockets and cupping her face as she pulled her to him.

“Teenagers and their hormones.” Hill turned away, heading onto the quinjet with Hand at her heals.

“I think I need to check the Bus’...” Coulson just walked away looking entirely too embarrassed to be spy.

“That’s a lot longer than the other kiss.” Skye whispered when Natasha finally let her mouth go.

“I’m betting there’s also more tongue.” Natasha scrunched her nose, leading the kid away.

“LANCE HUNTER!” The teenagers jumped apart when Agent Hills voice sounded through loud speakers. “GET YOUR TONGUE OUT MORSE’S THROAT, WE’RE ON A SCHEDULE!” Hunter was bright red, stumbling over mumbled words and running a hand through his hair whilst Bobbi just looked mortified before running onto the plane.

Her mentor just broke up her first real kiss in... Ever!


	3. Widows Charge

Skye was bored out of her mind. She thought have an Avenger babysitter would be cool, but so far all Natasha had done was tell her to sit in the rec room and tossed a Maths book at her. A really big, boring Maths book. Natasha was sitting on the other end of the couch tapping away at her computer, her fingers flying over the keys too fast for Skye to see.

“If you’re going to pretend you need to at least turn a page every few minutes.” Natasha said without even looking away from her computer. Skye startled, how did she even know? She hadn’t looked away from her computer screen in the last ten minutes at least. “I’m psychic, what’s your next question?” The brunette gasped, her eyes widening. “What’s going on?” Natasha finally looked away from her screen, reaching for the book she’d given the kid. “This is still page three!”

“It’s advanced calculus!” Skye shot back defensively.

“So?” Natasha handed the book back, kicking her feet up on the coffee table.

“So? So, I’m eleven, I don’t have letters in my Maths.”

“Oh!” Natasha looked genuinely surprised. “Huh.” Skye put the book down and turned her whole body to face the woman. “In that case three pages is good.”

“I didn’t understand any of it.” Skye shrugged, “so you’re a spy, right? Do you have any cool spy gadgets like in the movies? The only one I’ve seen is the stupid tech cancelling nanny bracelet.” Although it had helped Bobbi find her so it wasn’t so bad.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Kid, I’m not doing much spying.” The base was mostly empty now actually with Koenig somewhere doing whatever work it was he did, the medical staff didn’t have any patients, Ward was perpetually in the gym and Hunter had wandered off after Bobbi had left - probably to take a very long, very cold shower, Natasha thought.

“But, do you have the gadgets?”

“None you’re allowed to use.” She’d really hate to electrocute the kid she was meant to be protecting.

“What about fighting?” Skye perked up again, her eyes bright. “Bobbi was teaching me how to punch after I got my cast off before, you know, before I was kidnapped again. I saw you on TV in New York, you could teach me how to fight like that.”

“Sorry, Kid, I defected from Russia partially because they were training kids to be like me, I had words with Fury when I found out he was doing the same, I’m not about to taint Morse’s precious little golden girl.” Natasha got up, taking her computer as she left the room and Skye didn’t know if she was meant to follow or not.

“What about computers?” Skye jumped up after a minute, running in the direction Natasha had gone. “The teachers at the school said I was CS gifted and I don’t have the nanny bracelet anymore so you could teach me spy stuff about computers.” She found the red-head in the kitchen, tapping away at her computer again. “I can get my one from school and you can teach me stuff.”

“You like computers, huh?” A smirk formed on the woman's lips.

“I only did three classes before I got the bracelet for breaking the rules, but the teacher said I was really good.” Skye nodded proudly. Natasha tapped a few things out on her computer before turning it to the girl.

“Have at it.” She challenged.

“Really?” The Black Widow was letting her use her computer?

“Sure, if you can get it, go nuts.” At that Skye eagerly reached for the device, staring at the blank screen and then down to the keyboard, freezing when she saw it.

“Where’s the keys?” Where was the A, the B, the C?

“It’s in Russian.” Natasha shook her head.

“I don’t know Russian.” Skye pouted, crossing her arms as Natasha closed the computer.

“Too bad.” Green eyes stared at the brown eyed girl for a moment. “I can teach you.”

“Really?” The girl sat up straighter.

“We’ve got a month, it shouldn’t be hard.” Natasha found herself smiling at the girls enthusiasm.

* * *

 

“Agent Romanoff.” Koenig approached her that night looking nervous. “Why is Skye running around the gym at midnight?”

“She’s got energy.” Natasha shrugged, flipping through a magazine.

“It’s midnight, shouldn’t she be asleep?” The man pressed.

“Had some sugar, she’ll crash eventually.” She turned the page, wrinkling her nose at the full-page article on the evils of S.H.I.E.L.D and how her and the Avengers were just a group of terrorists. Wonder what they’d be saying next time the aliens attacked?

“It’s just Agent May enforces a strict lights out at ten for the children and-”

“Is May here?” Natasha raised an eyebrow at the man.

“No. No she is not.” Koenig conceded.

“Right. So I say she’ll crash.” She got up from the couch, heading for the gym to check on the kid. It had been an hour since she’d set her on the treadmill to burn off the ice cream and other candy.

True to her words Skye was sitting on the treadmill instead of running or walking and she startled at the sound of the door. Natasha looked at the girl, sweaty, pale, wide-eyed, jittery. More than just coming down from a sugar high.

“Why don’t you want to sleep?” The red-head crossed her arms.

“I’m fine!” Skye got up, she looked tired as she walked over.

“Then get in your PJ’s.” Natasha walked with her and the girl dragged her feet the entire way back to her room. The room didn’t look very used, there was more of the Kids stuff in Morse’s room than here. Avoiding sleep, avoiding solitude at nights, Natasha bit her lip as she watched the girl.

Natasha stood outside the room as Skye got changed. Clint's kids she was fine with. They were little things that were happy as long as she smiled at them. Clint's kids were easy to smile with and laugh and praise their childish drawings. Skye was not one of Clint's kids. She heard the creak of the bed in the small bunk and opened the door see the girl in question sitting on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chest.

“You need a night light or something?” Natasha wondered, it’s not like she could use her own childhood for reference.

“I’m not a baby.” Skye scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Okay then.” Despite her words Natasha left the door open an inch or so to let some light in and left. When she was barely a dozen feet down the hall she looked back to see the door click shut and hear the lock slide into place. Natasha let out a sigh, her job was to keep the kid alive, that was it, she didn’t even have to be nice if she didn’t want to. Despite that the red-head turned and went back to Skye’s door, staring at it for a moment before sliding herself to the floor and sitting with her back to the opposite wall.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

 

About three hours after Natasha had put Skye to bed the lock slid back and the door slowly opened. Natasha was still sitting exactly opposite the door, staring straight at it in the same position she’d been in for the last three hours. Skye froze when she spotted the red-head, Natasha frowned; tears in her eyes again, still pale and sweaty. A nightmare.

Skye ducked her head instead of facing Natasha and tip-toed to the next door to the left that was Bobbi’s bunk. The red-head pursed her lips but didn’t say anything, adding co-dependency to her list of issues the girl seemingly had.

“Want to tell me about it?” Natasha leaned against the door frame, watching Skye bring Bobbi’s pillow to her chest and hug it tightly. Skye shook her head, her bottom lip trembling though she refused to cry. “Will it help if I stay to make sure no-one can get to you?”

“You don’t have to do that.” Skye shook her head, but what Natasha heard was more along the lines of ‘yes please, but I don’t want you to think I’m a baby’.

“It’s no problem.” She sank to the floor again, leaning her back against the bed that Skye was now laying in. After a few minutes Natasha had to resist the urge to attack when a hand touched her shoulder. Slowly she reached her own hand up to hold Skye’s, not letting go even when the kid had fallen asleep and was snoring lightly, still hugging Morse’s pillow with one arm.

Definite co-dependency, nightmares, fear of being alone, eager to please, afraid of sleeping. Natasha shook her head with a sigh, holding her hand just a little tighter.

* * *

 

“Hey, Stevie, I sent you some files on your little side project.” Natasha grinned into the phone, but it quickly dropped when the two teenagers left on base walked into the rec room where Skye was reluctantly doing her - now age appropriate - Maths school work. “I’ll let you know if I find anything else.” She hung up, eyeing the boys as they went to the couch where Skye was working. “Ten feet, Ward.” The assassin called out, making the boy jump and scrambling away from the kid.

“Can I stop yet?” Skye whined, peaking her brown eyes up to Natasha hopefully.

“What’s six times six?” Natasha crossed her arms.

“Thirty-six.” Skye rolled her eyes, everyone knew that.

“Nine times twelve.”

“A hundred and Eight.”

“Thirteen times twenty-seven minus forty-two.” Skye furrowed her brow for a moment.

“Three hundred and nine.”

“Phonetic A-B-C in Russian.” Natasha threw in with a smirk, Ward and Hunter had stopped what they were doing to watch. Skye paused, bit her lip, furrowed her brow.

“А́нна... Бори́с... Васи́лий?” She questioned making the red-head smile a little.

“You can have half an hour.” She couldn’t help but ruffle the kids hair, smiling a little more when the kid pouted and tried to put her hair right. “Then you’re doing History.” The girl groaned as Natasha walked away. “Remember, ten feet, Ward.” She called as left the room.

“It’s a conspiracy, isn’t it?” Hunter demanded once he was sure the assassin was a safe distance away. “They’re all trying to groom you to be one of them. One of those deadly, womanly spies that trap men into their webs and kill us when we least expect it.”

“Not everyone is out to kill you, Hunter.” Skye rolled her eyes, Bobbi was right, he was dramatic!

“Not everyone.” The man agreed, “just the highly trained, extremely skilled women around here. They want to kill me.”

“Drama Queen.” She grabbed the remote from his hands and changed the channel from the sports he had turned on.

“ _King_ , Skye.” Hunter shook his head, “I’m a man, I’m a King.”


	4. Друг Ская, Наташа (Skye's Friend, Natasha)

_**Week 1** _

Skye was sitting in Hunters bunk as the man gathered all his belongings across the room. Hunter was going back to England, he said he was joining the Military, he was going to be the 6th generation of his family to be in the British Armed Forces and after he got in he wanted to go into the SAS, whatever that was. He made it sound really important though.

“-and you know, I’ll come visit when I can... Maybe not right away, I’ve got basic training and I might get deployed or optioned for more training that could lead to the SAS, but I’ll call you when I can.” Hunter was rambling to Skye as he packed. “I’ll send you some proper sweets too, this American stuff is too sweet, you don’t get a chance to savour the chocolate . You’ll thank me, really.” Hunter frowned, turning in circles in the room a few times looking distressed.

“You’re worse than when Bobbi was packing.” Skye observed, watching in amusement as Hunter kept turning in the middle of the room.

“But, better looking, right?” Hunter asked with a grin.

“No.” Skye deadpanned, getting up. “I gotta go, Natasha’s going to start teaching me to _read_ Russian today.”

“Yeah, yeah, go get your super spy training to lure poor blokes into your web.” Hunter waved her off, still turning in circles. Skye didn’t know what he was looking for, but he looked ridiculous. “There it is! Hey, Kid, wait up!” Skye paused halfway down the hall to see Hunter running after her. “Here!” He shoved something at her expectantly.

“Franny’s Saloon... Huh?” A little round, bronze keychain sat in the palm of her hand.

“Can you give it to Bobbi for me?” Hunter looked sheepish, his cheeks turning pink. “Tell her I’ll be back for it in six months.” He looked like he was going to say something else before he just closed his mouth, nodded once, and went back to packing his bunk.

“Скай!” Natasha called her as she passed through the hall, stopping her from asking Hunter if he was okay. What was so special about a keyring?

Skye paused and thought for a moment, trying to remember the right word; “прибытие!” Natasha said she was only allowed to answer in Russian now; she only knew, like, a dozen words in Russian, but the Avenger was determined to teach her before Bobbi got back.

“Took you long enough.” Natasha was in the gym, swiping at a punching bag when Skye found her. “What’s that?”

“Не...” Skye nibbled her bottom lip, furrowing her brow. She knew this one! “Знайте?” Why was it so hard to learn another language? Binary had been easy.

“You can use English, Kid.” Natasha rolled her eyes, stopping her workout to stare at her.

“Hunter said to give it to Bobbi when she gets back.” The brunette sat at the bench where there was a stack of books. “Guess it’s some weird British way of flirting.” She put the keyring in her pocket before she could lose it or something.

“Book on top.” The red-head gestured to the pile where an exercise book was sitting on top of all the others. God, she hoped she didn’t have to read all of them, they were huge! And Russian! “Russian alphabet and the best approximation of the English counterpart; copy it down as many times as you can before I finish my run.” Skye didn’t have time to argue or even say anything because Natasha was already at the treadmill, punching in her settings. Skye knew from experience that she should get to work or Natasha would not be happy. She was afraid of a woman who could kill aliens getting upset.

The Russian alphabet was hard enough to learn to speak, there were 33 letters as opposed to the 26 in the regular alphabet; some of them looked like normal letters, but were actually different letters in Russian, and some of them just looked weird.

“If you could learn Binary in a day I’m sure you can figure out Russian in... I’ll give you two and a half.” Natasha reasoned from the treadmill, upping her speed.

* * *

 

_**Week 2** _

“Здравствуйте, Бобби!” Skye grinned excitedly when the video call connected, leaning in close as if that would make them physically closer together.

“What?” Bobbi stared at her with wide eyes and Natasha laughed from behind Skye.

“Natasha’s teaching me Russian.” The girl announced brightly, “she said I can use English now, but most of the time I’m only meant to speak in Russian. It’s a lot harder than Binary.”

“I’ll bet.” Bobbi couldn’t help but smile at her excitement. “How are you doing there, Miniature?”

“I’m okay, I get my cast off again tomorrow and I promise I’ll try not to break it again until at least next year.” She joked, wiggling the fingers still encased in plaster.

“Crap!” Bobbi winced, “I forgot to tell Natasha you weren’t allowed bacon when you have a cast.” The girl flushed at that as the red-head in questioned laughed, walking over and leaning down so she was in the frame as well.

“What’s the story behind that?” Skye pouted at Natasha, this was _her_ video call.

“Last time she got her cast off there was cereal, paper clips, paper, and bacon. I still don’t how the bacon got in there.” Bobbi rolled her eyes whilst Skye blushed darker.

“How’s your ribs? Are you better yet?” Skye peaked into the tiny camera at the top of them computer.

“I’m fine, Kid, not even a twinge.” The blonde assured, lifting her shirt a little to show that the bruising was gone as well. “I’ll be back before you know it and you can see for yourself.”

“Are your parents being nice?” Skye blinked wide brown eyes at the camera. “Are you sure they’ll let you come back? What if they make you stay? Wh-”

“Skye.” Bobbi’s blue eyes were soft and she was smiling. “I’ll be back by New Year, okay? I promise, and have I ever broken a promise to you?”

“No.”

The two continued to talk and Natasha couldn’t help but notice that it was the happiest she’d ever seen the kid. The truth to her was always circumstantial, but the truth in this situation was that Skye was happiest when Bobbi was close by. And it certainly looked like Bobbi was as besotted with the kid. Bobbi’s nose crinkled at the top when she laughed, and Skye looked like she wanted to climb through the computer. It was touching in a way that Natasha found both foreign and fascinating. She wondered if she would ever be that relaxed with someone; then she dismissed the thought, feelings were childish and pointless.

“You’re lucky.” The red-head murmured after Bobbi had signed off and Skye was left staring sadly at a blank computer screen.

“Why?” Brown eyes peaked up at her curiously.

“You have someone that cares about you. Really, truly cares.” Greens eyes stared into the distance wistfully for a second before she blinked. “Not a lot of people get that.”

“Do you have that?” Skye stared at her, for a second Natasha felt she could see right through her. May was right, the kid was far too perceptive for her own good. “I could be that for you. No-one else has ever taught me something just because they wanted to before. I know it doesn’t mean much, but I care about you.”

“I can take care of myself.” Natasha stood up, heading for the door.

* * *

 

_**Week 3** _

Skye stared wistfully at the big doors that led to outside. It was snowing - it was December, it was always snowing in Canada - and she could almost _hear_ the snow calling to her. It had been so long since she got to go outside; not since before she was taken to Mexico.

Director Coulson had said he had important business in Portland before he left the base yesterday. Agent May had left without saying anything, but there was a small gift on her bedside when she woke up. Agent Koenig was in the rec room video chatting with his brothers... Well, he said it was all different brothers, but they all looked like the same man - really, it could have just been an elaborate trick because the man looked exactly like Eric Koenig and she didn’t think it was possible to have that many identical brothers. She hadn’t even seen Natasha yet that morning.

“Hey.” Skye jumped at the sound of a voice, turning to see Ward hovering uncertainly at a doorway.

“Hi.” She smiled at him.

“Ten feet, Ward!” Natasha’s voice came over the intercom system on the walls. Ward sighed and stepped back, dropping his head.

“See you later.” Ward started to turn away.

“Wait.” Skye jumped up from her position on the floor in front of the doors to outside. “No-one should be alone.”

“Maybe some people should.” Ward shrugged, he looked sad.

“You were good, you know.” Skye pursed her lips for a second before continuing. “You were good for months before it happened.” The ‘it’ being why he wasn’t allowed within 10 feet of her unless they were eating or playing board games. He had been there when she was kidnapped, and he’d been at the place in Mexico that they kept her, and he hadn’t done anything to help them until right before they escaped. “And you’ve been good for nearly two months since it happened.”

“I wasn’t actually good before that, Skye.” Ward shook his head, “I was just pretending.”

“Natasha says that truth is a matter of circumstance.” Brown eyes blinked innocently at brown eyes. “Even if you weren’t _all_ good, doesn’t mean that it was all a lie.”

“Merry Christmas, Skye.” The boy smiled at her, “I’ve gotta go, but I’ll see you later, I guess?”

“Sure.” As he walked away Skye reclaimed her spot on the floor, staring wistfully at the doors.

“What are you doing?” Skye was alone for long when Natasha sat next to her on the floor.

“Nothin’.” Skye shrugged, tearing her eyes away from the doors. Sure, this wasn’t her worst Christmas, but there had to be something - anything - she could do that was better than staring at the doors. “Where were you?”

“Securing the perimeter.” Of course, what else would a super spy assassin be doing on Christmas? “I have it on good authority from a friend of mine that kids don’t like to be locked inside all the time.” The red-head stood up, holding out her hand to the girl without a second thought. “So I thought I’d take you outside for a-”

“Really?” Outside? She hadn’t been outside in a month and a half! She was starting to forget what the sun looked like.

“Really. Now go get dressed and get your coat, you’ll freeze to death out there in your pajamas.” The kid took off like a rocket, yelping with joy as she ran back to her bunk. Natasha stayed by the doors, but even there she could hear the childish squeals as Skye ran around, getting ready and back next to her in record time. It never took the kid less than half an hour to get ready in the morning, with the prospect of going outside it was down to seven and a half minutes.

Skye didn’t even wait for the doors to finish opening before she ran outside and face-planted herself into the snow with a happy squeal. Snow, fresh air, outside, the sun! It was a full minute before she rolled over and her face was starting to get numb.

“You’ve got two hours.” Natasha muttered into her comms unit as she watched the kid start making a snow angel.

This was the definition of childish innocence, Natasha mused as she kept an eye on her. She was neither childish nor innocent, and yet when a hastily made snowball was thrown at her, she let it hit her instead of dodging and then smirked at Skye as she bent to make her own snowball.

Ward and Koenig came out of the base and it wasn’t long before Natasha and Skye started a snowball war against them, launching an attack from behind a large boulder. Two against two wasn’t really a fair fight when one team was an Avenger and Skye - who had climbed up a tree and was throwing pine cones instead of snow - and the other team a non-field Agent and an awkward teenaged boy.

“Okay, Mиниатюрный.” Natasha stopped the girl from running after Ward when she finally came down from the tree. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks were pink - from happiness or the cold, it could have been either - and she was panting a little in excitement. “Время, чтобы пойти внутри.”

“Просто немного больше?” Skye pleaded, puckering her bottom lip out.

“Внутри. Теперь.” Natasha crossed her arms, calling for the two - supposedly - men to go back inside as well.

Back inside the base was warm and smelled like Skye had always imagined Christmas would smell like with gingerbread, roast turkey and hot chocolate. Most of the base was untouched, but the rec room had a tiny plastic Christmas tree sitting on the coffee table with a small grouping of gifts around it. There was tinsel hanging from the lamps, lights, and picture frames. This was the best they could do in two hours? Natasha shook her head in disappointment.

“Best Christmas ever!” Skye cheered, ignoring the pitying looks she received.

“Copy that.” Ward sat down and Natasha couldn’t be bothered reminding him to move another three feet away.

“С Рождеством Христовым, Скай.” The red-head just brushed her wild brown hair out of her eyes and handed her a hot chocolate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just say I do not in fact speak or read Russian; any and all Russian on here came directly from Google Translate, so if anything is wrong... My bad?  
> Скай = Skye  
> прибытие = arrival (it was meant to be Coming)  
> Не... Знайте = Do no... Know  
> Здравствуйте, Бобби = Hello, Bobbi  
> Mиниатюрный = Miniature (I couldn't resist, Skye is just everyone's favourite little Miniature)  
> Время, чтобы пойти внутри = Time to go inside  
> Просто немного больше = Just a little more  
> Внутри. Теперь = Inside. Now.  
> С Рождеством Христовым, Скай = Merry Christmas, Skye  
> \--  
> Also, keep an eye out, much like in the show, Franny's Saloon holds meaning for Bobbi and Hunter... Who can guess what it is in this story?


	5. Bobbi's Fight

**Week 4**

Agent Hill had come from New York to take her back to the base in Canada, making sure she was let in without being shot by the automatic weapons. The first thing that Bobbi noticed was that it was quiet. Too quiet. She never thought she'd miss this place, she'd only spent three weeks here and half of that had been in the medical wing. Maybe it wasn't the location, but the people.

"Hello?" The blonde called out, she knew Hill wouldn't take her to an abandoned base.

"Kitchen!" Was yelled back over the intercom. Bobbi went to drop her bag at her room first, finding it a mess of Skye's belongings scattered across every surface.

It had been nice to see her parents, to get to spend a month with them. It was nice to be the child in the relationship for a change, and she'd missed them more than she wanted to admit. A Doctor and an Accountant in Georgia living in a normal neighbourhood doing normal family things like barbeques and family dinners and game nights with the neighbours. They hadn't understood at first, why she wanted to come back to S.H.I.E.L.D, to an organisation that technically didn't exist anymore. Part of her thought that they still didn't understand.  
It had taken a full week and a half of arguing to convince them to sign her emancipation. She  _wanted_  to do this, she wanted to be an Agent, to protect people from things they couldn't understand, to make sure assholes like HYDRA didn't get their hands on people like Skye because they just wanted to take her apart and find out what she was.  
A week and a half, a lot of tears, a lot more yelling, and one threat to go to court and petition for her emancipation before her parents had agreed. Reluctantly. Bobbi couldn't blame them really, she was their only child and she was asking them to just let her walk away and maybe not come back. She knew the stories, Agents going on out on missions and not coming back, seen the plaques on the Memorial Wall that represented Agents gone in the line of duty. Hell, a dozen Agents had been killed trying to get Skye out of China - and she'd never tell the little girl that because it would break her heart.

But, if she could be an Agent and save even one person from being killed by a giant alien worm-thing from a hole in the skye - just for example - then maybe it would be worth it. The first time Agent Hill went to recruit her for S.C.H.O.L.A.R she had said one person could accomplish anything once they realise they're a part of something bigger... This was her chance to be a part of something bigger!

"BOBBI!" The blonde nearly fell over from the force of the tiny person that barrelled into her.

"I missed you too, Miniature." Bobbi laughed, she really had. She'd had to stop herself from calling a dozen times a day to make sure she was okay. The last time she left Skye alone was for three hours and she'd ended up kidnapped and locked in a cell for two days. Only the fact that she knew anyone that wanted to get at Skye would have to go through the Black Widow kept her from calling every time she got that unsettling feeling in her stomach.

"Bobbi's back, Nat." The woman was standing at the kitchen bench watching them with amusement.

"I see that." Natasha smirked, eyeing the pair for a second before turning back to her computer.

"No bruises, no broken bones, no nanny-bracelet..." Bobbi surveyed the girl for a moment. "I'm impressed." Skye stuck her tongue out childishly.

"We start at five tomorrow, Morse, I suggest you get your affairs in order." Natasha said, interrupting Bobbi's appraisal of her kid.

"That's not ominous." Bobbi sighed, "I have to check in with May and unpack-"

"Can I come?" Brown eyes peaked up hopefully. "Can I go, Nat?"

"Knock yourself out, you're not my responsibility anymore." The red-head waved them off.

* * *

 

Bobbi absently ran her hand through tangled, brown hair as Skye slept. Skye had talked a mile a minute while Bobbi sorted through her bag. She had some of her more personal - childhood memories - from her parents' house, but there was one thing in particular she had been looking for. A weird little jewelry store a few blocks from the house had a gold bracelet in the window with a little charm of tiny bird in flight, she'd ignored the weird looks from her parents and had bought it on the spot, along with a small group of charms. The bracelet fit perfectly around Skye's wrist.

"Hey." The blonde looked up in surprise to see the door ajar and Natasha Romanov leaning against the frame. "Took me eleven days to get her to sleep alone." Bobbi flushed, untangling her fingers from the messy brown hair and getting up.

"Sorry." She eased the door shut behind her.

"She always had nightmares?" The two stood in the hallway as they talked. Bobbi was still in shock that she was having a casual conversation with the Black Widow.

The blonde shook her head, leaning against the wall. "Demons, sure. The nightmares started after she was taken." Blue eyes looked over to green, "did she tell you what they were about?"

"She's a talker, but not about that." Natasha could have pushed, it wouldn't have taken much to get the kid to tell her, but she hadn't.

"It's easy to get attached, isn't it." Bobbi knew the look in her green eyes. It was the same look Hunter had once told her she had when talking about Skye. Protectiveness, determination, adoration...

Natasha crossed her arms, starting to walk down the hall - maybe to her bunk, maybe to do some super spy stuff, who knows? "You make her a co-dependent sleeper again and I'll kill you, Morse." As if Skye were an infant who couldn't sleep on her own.

Bobbi waited a minute to be sure that Natasha was gone before going back into her room. She didn't sit back on the bed, but instead by the door, watching Skye, making sure she was okay, listening to her breathing and letting it lull her into a sense of calmness. It was weird, she'd know the kid for four months, and had been apart for over a month of that, but... Hill had said she was hers.  
Izzy always said that it made all the difference - being responsible for the kid - and she knew it was true. She liked Simmons, she'd hurt anyone that hurt Simmons, but she'd been willing to throw away her whole future with S.H.I.E.L.D for Skye.  
Now her future with S.H.I.E.L.D  **was**  Skye. If she had known four months ago that an entire village had been slaughtered because someone wanted Skye - possible powers unknown had a whole new meaning now - would she have been so willing when Hill asked her to mentor? She'd take Skye in a heartbeat. And she'd make sure that no-one ever got their hands on her and took her to Mexico or anywhere else.

A lot could change in four months.

* * *

 

Skye was sitting on one side of the gym with a children's book in her lap, sounding out the words in Russian as Bobbi warmed up. Her first training session with the Black Widow and Bobbi knew she was going to end up on her ass, and so did everyone else who had turned up. Skye in the far corner, Ward hovering by the door, May at the punching bag, Koenig openly gawking from the benches.

Bobbi already knew she was going to regret waking up this morning.

"You ready?" Natasha was watching her with a predatory look in her green eyes.

"No." Bobbi denied making the assassin laugh.

"At least you're realistic." The blonde barely had time to blink before she was on her back with the wind knocked out of her. "Get up!" Bobbi groaned, but slowly stood up. "This isn't going to be a walk in the park, Morse, you're getting a crash course in what takes  _years_  to learn." Bobbi nodded, she understood that, and she understood why - Skye had abandoned her book in favour of watching them. She also understood that it was going to hurt like Hell. "Try and attack me." Well, she was pretty sure that was the only time someone had ever been invited to attack Natasha Romanov...

"Ow." Bobbi ended up with her arms twisted behind her and a knee to her back for her troubles.

"Focus." Natasha hissed in her ear, pushing her away. Bobbi tried to attack again - even she knew it was futile - and earned a punch to the gut that made her want to vomit. "Скай!"

"Да?" The brunette frowned, she only came here to watch Natasha and Bobbi, she thought she was done with her Russian lessons.

"Один шаг ближе к Уорд каждый раз Морс не удается." Natasha barked.

"Почему?"

"Мотивация," the red-head smirked, watching for Bobbi's next attack.

Obediently Skye took a step - and winced - when Bobbi was pushed back with seemingly no effort on Natasha's part. The blonde frowned in her direction, but didn't say anything, getting back to her feet. Another failed attack and Skye took another step.

"Focus, Morse, this isn't fun and games." Natasha commanded, "is this what they taught at that  **place**? Blindly attack?"

"No." The blonde ran into a jump, aiming a kick at Natasha's head only to have her move into the momentum, bend back, swing a leg up and around her waist and slam her into the mats on the gym floor. Skye let out a strangled sound, but took another step closer to Ward.

Bobbi swung one leg up, hooking it around Natasha's neck, pulling her back, Natasha rolled back and freed her head as Bobbi was trying to get up. She stuck a leg out, tripping the assassin school-yard style, used her foot to press down on her thigh whilst reaching for her arm. Natasha let her arm get twisted back to near-breaking, then used her other arm to reach back and grab Morse's head, flipping her over and onto her back.

Another step.

"Fuck!" Bobbi swore, gasping and staring at the ceiling as her vision swam.

"You can still talk." A punch aimed at her head, Bobbi ducked away, rolling to her feet and aiming a kick for Natasha's head while she was still down. The red-head caught her foot, twisting until Bobbi had to flip, kicking her free leg blindly as her body twisted and she landed awkwardly on one foot before slipping onto her back. "Good." Natasha had a feral look in her eye as she wiped blood from her lip from where she'd been kicked.

Bobbi was in shock, she'd just  _kicked_  the Black Widow in the head... And she was praised for it?

"You hesitated, you're dead now." Natasha rolled her eyes, holding out a hand. Bobbi eyed her warily, slowly reaching up and grasping the agents hand. They stared at each other for a moment; Bobbi yanked Natasha down, winding one leg around her arm and pushing her to the floor with her knee against her back.  
Natasha bent at what had to be the most awkwardly angle - was she made of rubber or something? - and locked her legs around the blondes neck, pulling back so that Bobbi landed with a thump and a groan on her stomach.

Skye couldn't even look anymore as she took another step. Why did she want to come here anyway? It wasn't fun watching Bobbi get beat up, it made her want to cry. Especially since it was Natasha hurting her.

Bobbi heard a sniffle from the side of the room and glanced over to see Skye with her back to them, her shoulders shaking, clearly crying. She didn't even fight as she landed on her back - again - with a thump. Her bruises were going to have bruises.

"You want to stop?" Natasha was leaning over her as she watched Skye upside down; her little Miniature was crying. "You want to go and comfort her?" She knew the Avenger was mocking her. "You want to stop her from getting to Ward?" Blue eyes darted to the door where Ward was still standing, looking half awed and half horrified. "Then get up and  _fight_."

Red clouded Bobbi's vision as she swung her legs up and kicked Romanov in the stomach, pushing her back a few steps. The next time she saw Skye - when she was lifting herself off the mats again - Agent May was with her, handing her a phone and some headphones - so she wouldn't have to listen to the fight - and guiding her another step closer to Ward.

Over her dead body!

It may have been stupid and reckless, but Bobbi took a swing at Romanov as she got up, taking the Agent by surprise and hitting her straight in the eye. Uh oh! The teenager faught against every instinct in her body to run for her life.

Looking back on it Bobbi thought that was when the Kiddy Gloves came off. Which was a terrifying thought because the whole morning had just been her getting her ass handed to her over and over again.

Ten feet. Skye was ten feet away from Ward, that was the limit.

Nine feet. Skye was still crying, knowing that every step May urged her to take meant Bobbi had been hurt.

Eight feet. Bobbi doubled over at the edge of the mats and realised that her breakfast didn't look nearly as appetising as it did before she ate it.

Seven feet. The blonde thought that maybe one of her ribs had fractured again.

Six feet. Natasha looked downright murderous, she definitely shouldn't have agreed to training with the Black Widow for a month.

Five feet. She'd be dead by the end of the day so the rest of the month wouldn't matter anyway.

Four feet. If she survives the day she's making sure Skye stays as far away from the gym as possible next time.

Three feet. Half the occupants of the base had ended up watching the Black Widow kick her sorry teenaged ass.

Two feet. Blue eyes landed on a pair of escrima sticks - apparently the officially term for them  _wasn't_  batons or as Skye had called them, fighty sticks.

The whole gym was silent when Bobbi grabbed the escrima sticks and swung them at Natasha freaking Romanov, hitting her across the face with two rapid thunk-thunk sounds, knocking the red-head to the floor.

"Okay." Natasha sat up on the mats, breathing heavy. Apparently beating teenagers up could get tiring. "Good job." Good job? Bobbi felt like she was about to pass out and it was a good job? Natasha barely looked worse for wear; a split lip, a black eye, and two marks from the escrima sticks - probably bone-deep bruises too from the sounds they'd made. "Skye!" May let the girl go and she immediately ran over to Bobbi, tackling her in a hug and planting herself between the blonde and the red-head.

"I'm okay." Bobbi just laid on the mats and let Skye cry on top of her, too tired to move. "I'm okay, Skye." She was nowhere near okay, but she'd say anything to stop her kid from crying.

"You alive, Morse?" May came over to check on her. Jeez, she must have looked bad if May was checking on her.

"Don't know." The blonde wheezed out.

"You angry, Morse?" Natasha called, Skye shifted so she was sitting between them.

"Get away." Her voice was croaky and thick with tears. "Get away from her."

"I'm okay, Skye, I'm fine." Bobbi tried to sit up, but May had to help her in the end.

"Are you angry, Morse?" Natasha repeated, settling a steely green gaze on her. "Are you pissed that she got that close? That she was two feet from him?" Bobbi just glared, Ward was still standing by the door, looking like he wanted to run. "You want to kill me or him?" At the moment she wanted to pass out and never wake up.

"Take Skye away from here." Bobbi muttered lowly to Agent May who raised an eyebrow at her. Really, she was meant to take orders from a teenager more than half her age?

"Come on, Skye, you don't want to see this." May stood up and practically lifted Skye off the ground.

"No. Let me go. Stop." Skye struggled, but May got her out of the room within the minute.

"You tired?" Natasha was already back on her feet, Bobbi wasn't sure if it was the left one or the right one that was the real Romanov. "You want to call it a day?" The blonde finally managed to push herself to her feet. Her muscles ached, her head was killing her, one of her ribs might be fractured again, Skye had been within two feet of Ward. "Ward, get over here."

Bobbi straightened, wiping blood from her lip as Ward slowly approached, reluctant to deny an order from someone like Romanov. Natasha went to Bobbi, a hand on her shoulder, green eyes staring into blue until she was sure the blonde was focussing.

"You get one shot, Morse." Natasha spoke lowly, making sure her words got through. "You can kick his ass now, take out your anger for what he did to Skye, make him feel like she felt when she was locked in that cell. Alone. For two days." Bobbi's fists clenched at her sides. "Or you give up now, he walks out of here and you never lay a finger on him. One chance. That's all I'm giving you, if you don't take it you leave him alone." Slowly. Far too slowly because it hurt to move everything right now, Bobbi bent down and picked up the escrima sticks she'd dropped. "Good." Natasha nodded, stepping away. "Use any advantage you can."

Ward was standing in the middle of the mats, and now that Natasha was finished beating the crap out of Bobbi most of the spectators had left. Bobbi tightened her grip, letting the anger and rage wash over her. Ward had admitted to being there when Skye was kidnapped, admitted that he'd been at that place in Mexico, he'd stood by for two days and done nothing while Skye was locked in a dark, dirty, freezing cold cell and straved. He may have helped in the end, but what if she had been a day later, would he have just kept standing by, kept letting Skye freeze and starve? Would he have let Skye - an innocent 11-year-old -  _die_  because of his wayward allegiance to the bastard that had ordered her kidnapping?

"One chance, Morse, make it count." Natasha called as she walked to the benches at the side of the room. That was all the encouragement that Bobbi needed, gripping her escrima sticks tightly and approaching Ward...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Скай = Skye  
> Да = Yes  
> Один шаг ближе к Уорд каждый раз Морс не удается = One step closer to Ward every time Morse fails  
> Почему? = Why?  
> Мотивация = Motivation
> 
> Surprise mid-week chapter!!! (Bobbi's back and Skye wanted everyone to know!)


	6. Black Heart of the Widow

_**Week 2** _

Skye had taken to avoiding Natasha at all costs and the red-head found it odd... She knew why, of course - Morse still had a slight limp and every time it looked like a bruise was healing Natasha made sure to add to it - but it was curious. Natasha had spent a month with the kid while Morse was away, making sure she ate her vegetables, making sure she slept at night - getting her to sleep on her own again - teaching her to read, write and speak Russian... And now the girl refused to be in the same room as her for more than ten minutes.

Natasha didn’t know what her problem was, she’d be leaving in just over two weeks anyway. No point in trying to regain Skye’s trust when she wasn’t going to be here in two weeks.

“She gets under your skin.” The red-head ignored Agent May as the older woman came into the kitchen. “Don’t know what it is, but the Kid... She makes you like her.” Natasha wasn’t sure that Melinda wasn’t projecting. Skye was 11, not far off the 9-year-old from Bahrain. “How’s Morse?”

“Alive.” Natasha took another mouthful of her vodka - stereotypical Russian that she was - before passing it to Melinda.

“And you?” Green eyes glanced up to see brown frowning at her. Natasha shook her head, taking her vodka back.

“Does she have some sort of mind trick going on? Is that what’s so special about her? Fucks sake, an untrained teenager tried to fight HYDRA for her, there’s got to be something.” Natasha said after another few passes of the bottle between them.

“Maybe that’s what normal kids are like.” Melinda shrugged, neither of them would ever know a normal kid. “Maybe there is something about her. Maybe we’ll never know.”

“She said she cared about me.” Natasha frowned, as if just the thought of caring left a bad taste in her mouth. “Now she hates my guts... It’s for the best, really.”

“She’s eleven and you beat the shit out of the closest thing she has to family.” Melinda let out a sigh, getting up from the table. “Talk to the kid, and make sure Morse is there when you do.”

“Great.” Natasha muttered darkly, “grovelling to a kid, sounds great.” She took one last mouthful of vodka before putting the bottle away and leaving the kitchen.

Natasha’s bunk was the first in the long hallway, strategically she’d be the first woken and on alert if the place was ambushed, but she strolled past it to the fourth door down on the left. Skye had managed to salvage some of the tinsel from Christmas and had taped it to her door claiming that it needed some decoration. The red-head cracked the door open and looked in - Morse wasn’t there, which made Natasha grateful that Skye was still sleeping on her own - and the girl herself was sprawled over the bed, fast asleep.

There must be something wrong with her conditioning, Natasha determined, there was no other reason that she would care what this kid - or any other - thought of her. God, this was what happened when she worked with a team, she was getting weak and emotional; not an ideal turn of events for a Black Widow.

* * *

Bobbi was sitting in the medical wing again, having her injuries looked over after another training session with Natasha Romanoff. Skye was sitting dutifully at her side like a needy little puppy as she waited. The good news was, she could see out of her left eye again. The bad news was, Natasha still made her train with a fractured rib despite what Medical said - and medical was very vocal about it.

“Hey.” Natasha was waiting in the rec room when she got out of medical and Bobbi held in a groan, she really didn’t have the energy to train right now. Skye tugged on her hand and frowned, trying to step out of the room. Bobbi sighed, she really shouldn’t have let the kid in the gym during that first training session; she was traumatised - maybe even more so than from when she’d been kidnapped. “Скай.”

“It’s okay, Skye, it’s just Natasha.” Bobbi urged her forward, but Skye just glared.

“Вы находятся сердиться на меня.” The red-head spoke, staring straight at the girl. What was the matter with her? Why did she even care what anyone thought of her, let alone one kid? Melinda was right, she had a way of getting under her skin.

“Интересно, почему.” Skye rolled her eyes.

“Great, I think the one person on this base that doesn’t know Russian will go lay down and wait to pass out.” Bobbi commented, looking between the two before starting to leave.

“Stay.” Natasha was the one that spoke, but Skye was the one gripping her hand tightly. “Skye’s pissed at the way I’ve been training you.”

“Yeah, I don’t blame her.” The blonde eased herself onto the couch. “If I weren’t in pain I’d probably be pissed too.” Skye stayed by the door. “But, I could’ve said no.” That had been made abundantly clear before their first session. She could quit right then and there and someone would be assigned to watch Skye 24/7, but once she started she was going to finish it whether she liked it or not.

“She’s hurting you.” Skye burst out, crossing her arms and inching closer ever so slowly. “You think I don’t notice that you’re injuries aren’t getting better? That every time you go to the gym with her you come out worse. That she’s hurting you and you’re _letting_ her. Why are you letting her?” Skye was close to tears when she finished, turning her accusing glare on Bobbi.

“Trust me, I’m not doing it for fun.” Bobbi forced herself to sit up straighter. “Natasha is **training** me, Skye, not hurting me just because she can. She’s teaching me to be a better fighter.”

“By hurting you?”

“Despite popular belief, Skye, I don’t actually enjoy hurting people.” Natasha narrowed her eyes at the girl. “I’m making sure that the next time your precious protector here gets the bright idea to fight a dozen armed men, that she comes out on top instead of getting her ass thrown in a cell.” Bobbi opened her mouth to say something - yelling at the kid probably wasn’t the best way to make her happy - but Natasha cut her off before she could start. “So yeah, if she gets hurt a bit-” a bit? Her bruises had bruises and those bruises had their own bruises. “-it’s not my problem as long as I make sure she can survive next time.” With that the red-haired assassin got up and left the room with far too much grace than an angry person should possess.

Bobbi shook her head, that could have gone better. It also could have gone worse, she knew, but she had hoped for better. “Okay, Kid, what’s the real problem? You’ve seen me train before and you never hated Izzy or Ward.”

Skye shrugged, looking down to her shoes. “Izzy never hurt you that bad and Ward’s an ass.”

“What?” Bobbi sat up straight and stared at her with narrowed blue eyes. “What did you just say?”

“Izzy never broke-”

“No, you said ‘ass’.” The blonde interrupted, “you don’t get to say that.”

“You say it all the time.” Skye frowned, literally _everyone_ on the base said it. That and a lot worse words as well. Teenagers and Agents swore a lot!

“Yeah, I’m seventeen, not an eleven-year-old kid.” Bobbi pointed out, “you’re meant to be innocent, you don’t get to use words like that.”

“I’m not a kid!” Skye huffed, she was 11, not 5.

“Yeah you are. And you don’t get to swear until you’re at least my age.” Maybe she should start watching her language if Skye was picking up on it.

“I’ll never be your age!” The brunette let out an exasperated sound. “I’ll always be six years younger than you, that’s not fair.”

“Life isn't fair.” Bobbi rolled her eyes, “do I have to start a swear jar or something? You are not speaking like that.”

* * *

 

_**Week 3** _

“Morse!” Bobbi startled awake when something heavy landed on her stomach and her bunk was flooded with bright light. She was a light sleeper - always had been - how the Hell had Romanoff managed to get into her room without waking her.

“The fuck?” The blonde used a hand the shield her eyes as Natasha kept throwing things at her.

“Get up, get Skye, get out of here.” The red-head commanded, already half way out of the room. Bobbi sat in silence for a moment, trying to process what was happening. “Now, Morse.”

“What’s going on?” Bobbi managed to shake herself to attention, reaching for the shoes that had been thrown at her. She glanced at the clock - just after three AM - and held in a groan.

“HYDRA.” Was the last thing Natasha said before she left. Bobbi’d blood ran cold as she hurried through getting dressed and grabbing the bag that had landed on her bruised torso.

By the time she made it to Skye’s bunk the girl was sitting up, looking around in confusion, still mostly asleep. “Bobbi?” The blonde went to the closet and grabbed a jacket, tugging it around Skye over her pajamas before reaching for shoes.

“We’ve got to go, Kid.” Skye just blinked at her sleepily. “I need you to focus, Skye, can you do that for me? I need to get us out of here so I’m gonna need you to do what I say, okay?”

“‘Kay.” Skye agreed, though Bobbi would have believed her more if she hadn’t yawned mid-word.

“Good.” The blonde kept a tight grip on the brunette’s hand as she peaked out into the hallway. For it being the middle of the night there was an unnerving amount of activity in the base; she’d attribute that to HYDRA - life-destroying, kidnapping bastards that they were.

“Where are we going?” Skye had to run to keep up as Bobbi navigated the base. There were two exits; the hanger where the planes came and went from, and the front door. “Are the others coming with us? Where’s Nat?”

“Right now it’s just you and me, Miniature.” Bobbi was having flashbacks; bad flashbacks to fighting and running and hiding and thinking they’re going to die in Mexico. She gripped Skye’s hand tighter, finding an empty office and pulling her inside.

“Bobbi?” The blonde was circling the room, looking for an escape route when Skye spoke. The girl looked young and scared, standing in the middle of the room, disheveled from being woken up, wearing her pajamas, a jacket and her shoes, and carrying her backpack. “What’s happening?”

“Skye.” Bobbi knelt in front of her, brushing some messy hair out of the girls face. “I know you’re scared, Kiddo, but we need to go, okay? There’s some very bad guys out there so we need to get you out of here so they can’t get their hands on you.” Bobbi waited until Skye nodded her understanding before looking for an escape route again. Vents! The air vents, just like when she ‘escaped’ from S.C.H.OL.A.R - she knew with the 20/20 vision of hindsight that there was no way she would have ever made if off campus if Hill and Hand hadn’t let her.

Bobbi had to use a chair to reach the air vent on the wall, prying the grate off before helping Skye climb in. And here she thought her days of escaping S.H.I.E.L.D compounds through the air vents were over, Bobbi mused as she lifted herself into the vent and pulled the grate shut.

Bobbi was able to find their way to the entrance of the base, looking down at the hallway from their place in the ceiling. Two HYDRA guards with guns - loaded with real bullets, undoubtedly - standing at the big double doors that they needed to escape through.

“Skye.” The blonde whispered as the girl peered down at the men as well, letting out a gasp when she saw the guns. “Look at me, Skye.” She waited for her to look up before continuing as quietly as possible. Wouldn’t want to speak too loud and alert the HYDRA Agents beneath them. “I need you to promise me something.”

“What?” The kid sounded scared, Bobbi didn’t blame her. Dragged out of bed in the middle of the night, trying to escape from somewhere that was meant to be safe, about to go on the run from the people that had kidnapped her and locked her in a cell for two days.

“Run.” Bobbi let out a breath. She was barely trained, still in training with Natasha Romanoff, but not nearly enough for her to be confident if there were more than two guards. Or if the guards were any good at fighting. “I need you to promise me you’ll run. No matter what happens, no matter what you see or hear, I need you to run as far and as fast as you can and don’t stop for anything.” Skye looked horrified at the thought.

“No-” she started to deny, shaking her head, sounding close to tears.

“ _Promise_ me, Skye.” Bobbi urged desperately, “promise you’ll run and don’t stop, and if someone finds you keep running untils it’s me or Natasha. Promise me.”

“Please don’t make me?” Skye begged.

“Promise me, Skye.”

“No.”

“Skye-”

“I won’t leave you.”

“Prom-”

“No!” The HYDRA Agents under them looked around in confusion at Skye’s outburst.

“Mary, please.” Bobbi hadn’t called her Mary since she chose to be Skye. “Mary, Skye, Miniature; I **need** you to promise me.”

“Okay.” Skye sniffed, looking away from her blue eyes in the darkness.

“Promise?”

“Promise.” The brunette nodded, flooding Bobbi with relief.

The teenager took a deep breath, focussing herself. With one last looked at Skye she maneuvered herself into position and kicked the grate down, surprising the two HYDRA guards, in the same motion she swung herself down and out of the vent, kicking one in the head. By the time she stood back up the second man was aiming his gun at her, yelling for her to surrender or be shot. She reached for the gun aimed at her head, pulling it sharply towards her before pushing it back to hit the man in the face, earning the satisfying crunch of a broken nose. A swift kick to his groin dropped the man to the ground and she used his own gun to hit him over the head, knocking him out.

A quick scan of the hallway and Bobbi let out a breath. HYDRA were idiots. Idiots that thought two men were enough to guard the exit. She looked up to see Skye peaking down from the vent with fearful, wide eyes. Bobbi beckoned for the girl to jump down, nearly being knocked over when she did.

“Run.” Bobbi commanded once Skye was steady on her feet. Skye hesitated, biting her bottom lip. “You promised, Skye, and I’ll be right behind you.” The girl took off into the cold, mid-January snow right as someone came around the corner at the other end of the hall. Bobbi froze, the man froze.  
The man raised his gun, the blonde warred with herself; stay and fight or run and help Skye get to safety? She yelped when the man fired his gun and it barely missed her. Run. Running sounded like a fantastic idea! The man was yelling, running after her, firing his gun again and again. Quick running weighed down by whatever Natasha had put in the bag, she slipped into the trees surround the base, getting lost within a few minutes. She didn’t even know where Skye had gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Скай = As always, that means Skye!  
> Вы находятся сердиться на меня. = You are angry with me.  
> Интересно, почему = I wonder why (with all the sarcasm 11-year-old Skye can muster)
> 
> So, Skye had watched the woman she was beginning to idolise (Natasha) beat the shit out of the closest thing she has to family (Bobbi) of course she's not going to be happy about it.  
> Also, yay for May/Natasha friendship!


	7. Cold Skye's

Skye was cold, alone, afraid and lost. Bobbi had told her to run and not stop. It was the middle of the night, it was snowing, she was only in her pajamas and a jacket, she was lost in the woods outside Providence base, and there were men with guns!

She tripped on the roots and sticks on the ground, her hands were cold and every time she fell they got scratched and hurt more. When she tripped this time she couldn’t get back up; she promised Bobbi she’d run, but she’d fell on her foot weird and she couldn’t stand on it anymore.  
There was rustling and twigs snapping behind her, someone breathing heavy. Skye panicked, looking around for an escape. The tree she’d tripped over was a big one, an evergreen so it had leaves even in the Winter. Her fingers hurt against the bark as she struggled to climb the tree; Skye never had problems climbing trees, but it was hard when she was so scared and cold. Her hands weren’t working right and the person behind her was getting closer. Closer. Closer.

Skye managed to make it up the tree and hide in the leaves and branches as one of the men with guns ran past. She held in a sob as she shivered through a gust of freezing cold wind. An hour ago she was blissfully asleep, the worst thing that was happening then was the she knew Bobbi had to train with Natasha every morning. Now she was hiding in a tree from men who had ambushed the base, she didn’t know if or when she’d see anyone again and she’d promised Bobbi that she’d run and now she couldn’t.

The man that had run past her came running back and Skye held her breath. Once he passed she let the breath out and watched it dissipate into the air. This was only the second time she’d been outside since she was brought to Providence, and it was significantly less fun than Christmas.

More rustling and panting, Skye looked at her hands; they were numb from the cold, but she could see the cuts and watched in fascination as the cuts bled. It was weird to watch her hands bleed, but not be able to feel it. Another person came running through the trees and Skye almost fell out of her hide-out.

“Bobbi!” The blonde froze, turning around every way she could. “Bobbi.” Skye called again, remembering that there were bad people around as well. “Up.” Blue eyes darted up to the trees and landed on her.

“Skye.” Bobbi climbed the tree easily and sat on the branch on top of hers, “what are you doing here? You promised-”

“I tried.” She had kept all her promises to Skye, and Skye couldn’t keep this one. The one promise Bobbi had begged her make and she couldn’t keep it. “I tried, Bobbi, I did, I swear.” She didn’t realise she was crying until the teenager was wiping her tears away. “I fell and my ankle hurts.”

“It’s okay, Skye.” Bobbi assured, her voice soothing. “I know you tried.”

“I’m sorry.” Once she started she couldn’t seem to stop crying. God, she was such a baby! “I’m sorry, I tried, I tried, I tried.”

“I know, Skye, it’s oka-” Bobbi clamped her mouth shut, moving her hand from wiping away Skye’s tears covering her mouth as someone approached. They needed to get out of here. HYDRA was running around with guns, it was snowing and freezing cold, and Skye had hurt her ankle, but they needed to get out of the tree and get somewhere safe. Thank God no-one ever looked up, Bobbi mused, it they did she would have been dead a long time ago. “One to ten, how bad does your ankle hurt?” If it was broken it was going to be a lot harder to run.

“I dunno... Like a four?” Skye guessed, it was mostly numb now from the cold. “I can move it now, but it hurt when I tried to stand up before.”

“That’s good, it’s not a break.” The blonde dropped onto the lower branch, hanging her bag on the edge of the branch and reaching for her feet. “Left or right?”

“Left.” In the darkness it was hard to tell how bad it was, but there didn’t feel to be much swelling, and Skye barely let out a gasp when it was touched. Probably just a twist - and hopefully not a bad one - but it might be tender and sore for a while.

“Okay, I know it’s going to hurt a bit, and you want to go back to bed, but we’ve got to go, Kid, we have to get out of here.” She didn’t even know where they were supposed to go; Natasha just said to get Skye out of there. “Do you think you can stand on it?”

“Maybe?” The word puffed out in a little white cloud between them.

Bobbi threw her bag down to the ground before jumping down herself, landing in the soft snow. Skye took a couple of slow breaths before scrambling down the trunk instead of jumping. Good news; Skye could put weight on her foot. Bad news; she was limping which would slow them down.

* * *

“How did they find us?” Coulson demanded of the room at large. “Fury’s hidden base, known only to a handful of people and HYDRA found us. How?” Natasha had one obvious answer - Grant Ward - but she knew it wasn’t him. Ward, from all accounts, had been a model citizen since the three teenagers and Skye had been picked up in Mexico.

Plus, his every action was being tracked, traced, and monitored by his very own nanny-bracelet locked around his ankle.

He’d been found working with HYDRA, aided in the kidnapping of a child, they weren’t about to trust him just because he made the right decision in the end. And Ward had readily agreed to any punishment or consequences - his only request was that the tracker be on his ankle to avoid the judgemental looks - encouraged it even.

“People have been coming and going a lot lately.” Romanoff provided instead; Morse coming and going, Hill came and went a few times, May running off to find information on Coulson’s revival, May and Coulson going out on missions every few days. They were getting more traffic than a train station.

“So you’re saying we led them to us?” Coulson frowned.

“I’m saying it’s not impossible.” Natasha corrected, “and that we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again if you insist on keeping kids on base.”

“Nice of you to send them out on their own, by the way.” The red-head rolled her eyes, “teenagers alone in the Canadian wilderness in Winter with HYDRA running around, one of them being an Oh-Eight-Four, and they have no idea where a safe house is or how to defend themselves.”

“Only one of them’s a teenager.” Natasha crossed her arms as she left. Besides, it wasn’t her fault S.H.I.E.L.D had recruited children - she was against it, as she had told Fury, loudly, on numerous occasions - she had just been training a legally emancipated adult to protect a potentially valuable asset.

“Romanoff-” The door shut behind her, cutting off whatever Coulson was going to say. Because he was right; she was the one that sent Morse and Skye out on their own when HYRA ambushed them.

HYDRA had found Providence, they’d attacked their base with three soldiers for every one person on their base, and if they had found out about Skye being there... She did the right thing, as long as Morse was able to get them off base they’d be fine.  
Director Coulson had already given coordinates for a new base somewhere in Virginia, but they couldn’t go straight there. However HYDRA managed to find them they could be tracking them and that would just lead to another fire-fight, more blood on everyone’s hands, and having to move base again... Who knew how many secret bases Fury had set up, but it wasn’t enough to just waste them by inviting HYDRA to the door every time.

* * *

Bobbi stared at her ringing cell phone in stunned silence - though she could have just frozen solid and didn’t notice. Sometime near four in the morning, cold, really freaking cold, and in the middle of the Canadian wilderness and Lance Hunter decided to call her? Though to be fair, he probably didn’t know she was on the run from HYDRA.

“Should probably answer it.” Skye spoke up, Bobbi glanced over, the kids lips were starting to turn blue. They needed to find somewhere to get warm before either one of them got pnemonia.

“Right. Never thought of that.” Blue eyes rolled sarcastically as numb fingers slid to answer the call. “Not the best timing, Hunter.”

“Nice to hear from you too, Love.” She could practically feel his eyes rolling on the other side of the planet. “So I figure I’m going to be done with training in four months and if I recall four months from now is six months from two months ago-” the Englishman continued.

“Really not a good time, Hunter.” Bobbi shook her head, she could deal with Hunter’s four months from now, in four months. Not when she was freezing her ass off.

“Alright, no need to get snappy.” Hunter sounded defensive, Skye wasn’t paying attention to where she was going-

“Skye!” Bobbi yelped, yanking her away by the bag on her back when the kid almost walked head-first into a low-hanging branch.

“Oh, is the little lady there? Maybe she’ll be-”

“Hunter.” Bobbi cut him off again, ignoring his sound of protest. “It’s four in the morning, I’m cold, I’m tired, and I have no idea where I am; I’ll call you later.” With that she hung up on him and looked around. This part of the forest looked exactly the same as every other part of the forest. “Come here, Kid.” The blonde wasn’t sure which one of them was shivering as they huddled close together. It was probably both of them. “This thing is heavy as Hell, Romanoff better have put something useful in here.” She honestly didn’t know why she hadn’t looked in the bag before. Like, an hour ago, an hour ago would have been a great time to look in the bag.

“Cool, you’ve got your fighty sticks.” Skey grinned when she saw the escrima sticks tucked into the side of the bag. Bobbi had to admit that it did make her feel a little more confident in her fighting abilities to have them; her training with Romanoff had consisted of half time in hand-to-hand, half time with weapons - mostly the escrima sticks since she’d apparently shown an affinity for them.

Her phone started ringing again and she almost threw at the nearest tree - the one that Skye had nearly walked into - but it could be important. It was her only contact to S.H.I.E.L.D. It was Hunter again, Bobbi frowned, swiping to answer.

“Hunter-”

“Did you say you were lost in Canada at four in the morning?” Hunter demanded and she had to pull the phone away from her ear because he was shouting.

“Seriously, Hunter-” Bobbi sighed.

“Why are you lost in Canada at four in the morning?”

“I’m not lost.” She found a map in the bag. And a compass. Now she knew where North was! “I have a map.”

“There’s no star saying where we are.” Skye frowned, staring at the map.

“Yes, I can tell you have everything under control.” Hunter quipped sarcastically. “What can I do?”

“You don’t need to do anything, Hunter, I can handle this.” Bobbi rolled his eyes. Really, what did he think he could do in England anyway?

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Love, I’m not one to sit by when there’s a beautiful woman in distress. Now what can I do?” Maybe that was his version of trying to be a knight in shining armour to a damsel in distress. She was so not a damsel.

“Nothing.” Bobbi huffed, picking through the bag again. “You can’t do anything, Hunter. You don’t need to do anything. I need to get my kid to safety.” Her kid was currently shivering next to her and looking at her with wide eyes. “What the Hell use is a map when I don’t know where I am?”

“Look for landmar-” the Englishman started, somehow a pain in her ass on the other side of the ocean.

“I know that.” The blonde hissed, “but there aren’t any landmarks. Should I go by the big tree to my left or the big tree to my right since you’re full of such wisdom?”

“Hey, I’m just trying to help here.” Hunter defended in his huffy voice.

“Well, unless you know somewhere I can defrost my kid you can’t help.” Skye managed to get her numb little fingers on a StarkPad from the bag.

“Fine.” Hunter snapped, they were both silent for a moment. “Just do me a favour and don’t die out there, yeah? I already requested the leave for May.”

“Yeah, okay.” Bobbi rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Bye, Hunter.”

“Say hi to the kid for me, yeah?” Hunter mumbled before hanging up right as Skye shoved the StarkPad in her face.

“We’ve got internet.” The girl announced and Bobbi had to go cross-eyed to see the tablet because it was so close.

“We’ve got internet and you thought you’d play games instead of using the GPS?” The questioned when she saw which app was open.

“Who knows when you’d stop flirting with Hunter.” Skye shrugged, Bobbi stared at her.

“Okay, one, I was not flirting with Hunter.” The blonde corrected, “and two, are you insane? We’re freezing our asses of and you want me flirt with some guy? We’re meant to be looking for somewhere to hide from HYDRA where we won’t die of frostbite.” Her kid had some really messed up priorities! “Give me that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we get to meet some new people (new to this series at least)! Plus, I've finally made one of the big decisions regarding this story (not gonna say what) and it only took me 32 chapters to make it.


	8. Mockingbird In Flight

Skye’s breath was coming out in white puffs, she was shivering so much her teeth were chattering, her lips were turning blue, and she didn’t want to walk any more. Bobbi wasn’t doing so good either, but she was following the tiny dot on the StarkPad map that would hopefully lead them somewhere safe... Natasha wouldn’t send them somewhere unless it was safe, right? That was the only thing keeping her going right now so she really hoped it was true.

“Bobbi?” Skye’s fingers felt like ice against her hand.

“Yeah, Miniature?” Trying to keep her voice light.

“Are we gonna die?” Bobbi froze - not from the cold this time - and stared down at the scared brown eyes looking up to her in the darkness. “I don’t wanna die yet.”

“You’re not going to die.” The blonde tried not to choke on the words. “Okay?”

“‘Kay.” But, she didn’t trust look her in the eye.

“Skye, you’re not going to die; I promise I will get you somewhere safe, and you know I don’t break my promises.” She knelt in front of the girl, cold hands holding her smaller, freezing hands. “You believe me?”

Skye’s brown eyes surveyed her for a moment. “Yeah.” The girl leaned into her, seeking warmth and comfort. Bobbi held in a sigh, moving her arms around Skye, holding her close.

“We’ve got to keep moving.” The blonde reluctantly separated herself. “How’s your ankle?”

“I’m okay.” Skye wiped at her eyes. Bobbi smiled sadly, she was a kid - 11-years-old - and she was forced into this dangerous, deadly, HYDRA-filled life, and she was trying so hard to be mature about it. “Let’s go.”

“You’re a good kid, Skye.” A kiss to her temple before she stood up straight and checked the StarkPad. The tiny dot that represented them had barely moved since they’d started walking, if anything their destination looked further away, but that could just be her tiredness talking.

* * *

 

When Bobbi Morse had dreamed of being in S.H.I.E.L.D - during long hours studying and working her ass off at S.C.H.O.L.A.R - she had imagined it to be slightly more glamourous than the Canadian wilderness in the winter when it was snowing with an 11-year-old. She’d had her sights set on fighting aliens in New York, not fighting the bitter, cold winds of Canada.

She also imagined flying jets and driving fast cars - and she totally wasn’t basing her fantasies on cheesy spy movies - not hotwiring an abandoned truck on the side of the road with Skye shivering in the passengers seat. The car had clearly been abandoned for a reason - no-one abandons a perfectly good truck on the side of the road, so there’s either something wrong with it or it’s stolen - but Bobbi is desperate and it has to be faster than walking.

It takes longer than she would have liked, but after half an hour she finally gets the truck started and she could almost cry in relief. She can feel Skye watching her as she sets the StarkPad on the dash, adjusts all the mirrors, and turns the heater up as far as it can go before she starts driving.

“These people have sucky taste in music.” When she glanced over Skye was going through the glove compartment, looking through the CD collection with a frown on her face. “Hey, cool, a taser!”

“No way!” Bobbi had to take a hand off the wheel to snatch the taser away. “You do enough damage without a weapon, no way are you allowed something that can make grown men drool into the carpet.”

“But, what if I need to, like, tase something?” Skye turned big brown eyes on her. “Like, what if there’s one of the bad guys and-”

She rolled her eyes and hid a smile, “no tasing, Skye.” That earned her a pout that quickly disolved into a yawn. Bobbi could feel her fingers now, the heater was working - Skye’s lips weren’t even blue anymore - and they were slowly inching towards the little destination dot on the StarkPad. “Get some sleep, Miniature, it’s been a long night.” The sun was starting to rise from behind them; Natasha had woken them at three, Hunter had called at four, they’d found the truck at five-thirty. It had been one of the longest two and a half hours of her life.

It was an hour later that Bobbi was faced with a dilemma; Skye was sleeping in the passengers seat, and they were out of gas. There was no-one else at the gas station, but she still didn’t want to leave Skye alone and asleep in the truck whilst she went in. On the other hand she didn’t really want to wake her just to go inside because she was being paranoid.

At least this time she didn’t have to pick anyone’s pocket to get the gas.

Three minutes. Bobbi had been out of the car for three minutes, getting gas and some crappy junk food - because gas stations didn’t seem to have anything even remotely healthy. She’d barely taken her eyes off the truck the entire time, and yet when she got back to the car Skye was talking into the cell phone. In Russian. Of course Russian.

One day she was going to learn Russian and then they wouldn’t be able to have secret Russian conversations that she couldn’t understand. Not that she was bitter or anything.

“Bobbi!” The blonde was pulled from her thoughts. “Nat says we’re going to California; I’ve never been to California.”

“Sounds great, Kiddo, can I talk to Natasha for a minute?” She tossed the food on the backseat as Skye said her Russian goodbyes before handing the phone over.

“We don’t know how HYDRA found us, but we’re not taking any chances.” Natasha greeted her with, her husky voice giving Bobbi some comfort. She didn’t sound worried, and if the Black Widow wasn’t worried then they’d be fine. “There’s a safe house in Malibu, California, you’re now one of the dozen people that know about it and I can guarantee it’s safety. Get there as soon as you can, make sure you’re not followed, and check in on this number every hour.” The instructions were short and simple. 1; follow the GPS on the StarkPad to Malibu. 2; put her evasion class from S.C.H.O.L.A.R to use. 3; always be in contact. Simple. Easy. “Code Phrase; ‘is the mockingbird in the sky?’ If those aren’t the first words you hear, hang up and don’t call again. Understand?” She was speaking so quickly and smoothly it took Bobbi a second to realise she was supposed to respond.

“Yeah, um, I mean; yes, I understand.”

“We’re going to establish a new homebase and send a team to take out the HYDRA branch that attacked us, if someone isn’t in Malibu one week from now I’ll send another set of coordinates and you’ll leave immediately. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” The line was silent for a minute, to the point where Bobbi thought the Russian might have hung up on her. “Keep that kid safe, Morse, and get yourself to the safe house too, you’d make a damn good Agent when you grow up.” This time she did hang up - before Bobbi could argue that she was grown up, she’s 17, not 7, and she’s even legally emancipated now.

“Can we go back to Providence now?” Skye was staring at her hopefully.

“No,” Bobbi let out a breath, they’d never be going back to Providence. “We’re going to California, remember?”

“Yeah, but Providence is closer, and it’s home.” Bobbi tried not to be saddened by the fact that the 11-year-old thought that the top secret, underground base for the former security agency that was now branded as a terrorist organisation was home. “Been to a lot of houses, but I never had a home before.” And if that didn’t make it go from sad to depressing, Bobbi didn’t know what would.

* * *

“Бобби пытается научить меня азбуке Морзе код.” Skye chirped into the phone during one of the mandatory hourly phone calls. Natasha was still answering - always on the first ring and always with the right code phrase. “Это действительно скучно.” That made Natasha laugh for some reason.

“Не так весело, как русский?” Even Skye knew she would be smirking right now.

“Это просто точки и тире!”

“И двоичный только единицы и нули , Миниатюрный .” Natasha shot back, she was right of course, but that didn’t make Morse code any more interesting. “Расскажите Морс; точка-точка-точка-тире. Точка-точка. Штрихпунктир-точка-точка. Штрихпунктир-точка-точка.” Skye had to race through the translation to Bobbi as Natasha started rattling off dots and dashes almost too quick for her to keep up before she switched to English. “Dash-dot-dot. Dash-dash-dash. Dash-dot. Dot-dash-dash-dash-dash-dot. Dash. Dash-dot-dash. Dash-dot. Dash-dash-dash. Dot-dash-dash. Dot-dash-dot. Dot-dot-dash. Dot-dot-dot. Dot-dot-dot. Dot-dot. Dot-dash. Dash-dash-dot-dot-dash-dash. Dash-dash. Dash-dash-dash. Dot-dash-dot. Dot-dot-dot. Dot.”

Bobbi gripped the steering wheel tighter and let out a huff, glaring at the road ahead of her. Skye couldn’t even remember the Morse alphabet yet, but she hoped she hadn’t just said something bad. “Yeah, well, tell Natasha; Dot-dot-dot. Dash-dot-dash. Dot-dash-Dot-”

“You tell her.” Skye cut in before Bobbi could even finish her first word. “I’m not a messenger and do I have to put a dollar in the swear jar? ‘Cause I don’t even know what I said, so it shouldn’t count.”

“You didn’t swear, Kid.” Bobbi shook her head with a smile.

“Like I’d corrupt Morse’s little Angel.” Natasha scoffed at the same time on the other end of the phone, which was now on speaker.

“Angel my ass.” Bobbi snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Swear jar.” Skye and Natasha said at the same time.

“Call again in an hour, Mini Agent and Миниатюрный.” The Russian said after a moment when someone said something to her in the background.

“Did she just call me Mini Agent?” Bobbi frowned at the phone when it beeped that Natasha had hung up. “I’m not the Miniature here, you are. I’m taller than her!” She cast a glare to her right when Skye giggled. “I have a clearance, you know? Only one still at SCHOLAR to have an Agents clearance. Stick that in her ‘Mini Agent’.” She huffed to herself, Mini Agent her ass! “What’s so funny, huh?”

“Now you know how I feel.” Skye stuck her tongue out. “Everyone always calls me Miniature, but I’m not that little. I’m at least eleven, you know.”

“I know.” She couldn’t help but smile at the kids indignance.

“I could even be twelve right now! And twelve is almost thirteen which is a teenager! Then I wouldn’t be miniature ‘cause I’d be a teenager the same as you.”

“You’ll always be my miniature.” Bobbi shook her head, it didn’t matter if one day Skye was taller than her or stronger than her or anything, she’d always be the little firecracker 11-year-old she’d fallen in love with. “Even when you’re thirty-five and an even bigger pain in my ass, you’ll still be my miniature.”

“Swear jar.” Skye said automatically before going quiet; “you still want to know me in twenty-three years? Even when you’re an Agent and you get to be a cool spy, you still want to know me?”

Would the insecure foster kid in her ever truly go away? “Of course, Skye, I promised I’ll always come back to you, and that doesn’t have a time limit on it.”

“Cool.”

* * *

The man was angry. He always liked to remind people not to lose their heads. Because he knew the destruction that could happen when he lost his head. Hundreds dead, homes turned into deathbeds, blood coating his hands like a second skin.

But, when Raina walked into his surgery with a vial of blood and a picture of a little girl, he got angry. A vial of the girls blood that was taken when she was unconscious, for proof, Raina said. And a picture of a little girl sitting in a dirty cell with a dirty face and tear streaks on her face.

He got angry at that.

Because even without the blood to prove it he knew. He knew those brown eyes, he knew the sweet smile the girl probably had, he knew that it was his daughter. His little girl had been locked in a cell like an animal. Caged up for days and treated like scum. His little girl. He almost chocked the life out of Raina on the spot for taking his babies blood, for putting her through that pain - even if she had supposedly been unconscious at the time. But, she was his only connection to his little Angel.

He did choke her a little, just enough to compel her to tell him everything about his baby. Raina had been working with HYDRA - he would kill every HYDRA bastard he ever met - when the girl had been brought in. HYDRA had taken her from S.H.I.E.L.D - so S.H.I.E.L.D were the ones who had kept his little girl from him? - and locked her in a cell for two days without food or water or a bathroom. The scalpel in his hand snapped in two. A group of teenagers from S.H.I.E.L.D had broken her out and taken her back.

So S.H.I.E.L.D had his little girl, did they? They were keeping her from him? Doing unspeakable things to her?

Well, he decided, when Raina showed him a tablet with a blinking red dot, saying the dot was his baby, not for long. Not for long!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Бобби пытается научить меня азбуке Морзе код - Bobbi's trying to teach me Morse Code  
> Это действительно скучно - It's really boring  
> Не так весело, как русский? - Not as fun as Russian?  
> Это просто точки и тире - It's just dots and dashes  
> И двоичный только единицы и нули , Миниатюрный - And Binary is just ones and zeros, Miniature  
> Расскажите Морс; точка-точка-точка-тире. Точка-точка. Штрихпунктир-точка-точка. Штрихпунктир-точка-точка - Tell Morse; dot-dash-dot-dash. Dot-dash-dot. Dot-dash-dot-dot.  
> **  
> \- ... - .. .-.. .-.. / -.. --- -. .----. - / -.- -. --- .-- / .-. ..- ... ... .. .- -. --..-- / -- --- .-. ... . (Still don't know Russian, Morse)


	9. Natasha Cares

_**DAY 3** _

The Safe House, as Natasha had called it, was more of a bunker. A sub-basement level secure area at the edge of a cliff in Malibu. Skye had been the one to tell her that it was Tony Stark’s house... Well, the remnants of it after the house had been demolished and destroyed. Tony Stark had converted the sub-basement into a bunker for emergency use. Bobbi didn’t know how Natasha had gotten him to let them use it, but it was probably the most extravagant safe house in the universe. Large king beds with the softest sheets she’s ever felt, state of the art technology that had Skye’s fingers twitching, a full bar - she’d have to keep the kid away from that, no way was she being the one responsible for getting the 11-year-old drunk - full of what had to be expensive alcohole. There was even an indoor pool! What safe house had an indoor pool?

“Go have a shower, Kid, I’ll call Natasha.” She was still in her pajamas from when she woke up three days ago at Providence. It had been a long three days; Bobbi probably could have made the drive in less than that, but she’d been trying to keep Skye calm and happy instead of panicking her because of an urgent need to get to the safe house. Once Skye was out of sight the teenager let out a sigh. Natasha hadn’t answered the last three times she’d called. Not that she hadn’t answered with the right codephrase, she just hadn’t answered, the phone had rung out and it made Bobbi antsy.

“Is the Mockingbird in the sky?”

“Oh, thank fuck!” Bobbi could nearly cry in relief, but Natasha just laughed on the other end. Nearly. She’s been trained better than to cry because someone was alive.

“Swear jar, Morse.” The assassin mocked.

“You haven’t answered the last three calls.” She defended, idly tracing her fingers over the marble benchtop in the kitchen.

“I had to get HYDRA off our asses.” Natasha replied, her voice part growl. “The guy that got Skye-” her breath hitched and her hand clenched around the phone. “-Coulson let me play with him a little before he killed him.” The blonde shuddered, Natasha’s idea of playing wasn’t Scrabble, that’s for sure. “He won’t be coming for our kid again.”

“Good.” She probably shouldn’t feel happy that someone was dead, but it was the asshole that ordered Skye’s kidnapping and imprisonment, so she didn’t think he really counted as a person.

“The military is taking credit, but that’s okay because it means they’re stuck with cleanup too. And there’s a lot to clean up.” Natasha continued, “Fury said there’s another base, we’re going to check it’s safety and start setting up; I’ll come get you two in a couple of days.” A couple of days... This was certainly a good place to be for a couple of days.

“I’ll let Skye know.” Skye would be happy to hear it, she’d been asking non-stop for the last three days when they’d get to go home. This new base wouldn’t be Providence, but hopefully it’d be good enough. “Is everyone okay?” May, Coulson, Koenig, Fury... Had anyone been hurt.

“Mostly pissed, but fine.” Bobbi didn’t say anything about the swear jar, Skye wasn’t within hearing distance anyway.

“Good.” She’d hate to have to tell Skye that someone was hurt... And she was kind of fond of them as well. The shower switched off and she knew Skye would want to talk to her favourite assassin. “Hey, you never told me we were going to Tony freaking Stark’s safe house.”

“I had to pull some favours to get you in there, so don’t do anything stupid like drink the good scotch.” Natasha murmured and Bobbi was pretty sure that was her way of saying ‘I care about you enough to ask Stark to use his safe house’. It may have been the sweetest thing she’d heard the red-head say in the three weeks she’d been training her.

“I’m pretty sure there’s scotch here worth more than my parents house.” Seriously, the bottles looked fancy enough.

“Probably.” Natasha laughed, as if that was normal. As if scotch that cost more than a house was perfectly acceptable and not at all extravagant.

* * *

 

Natasha had lied. They had found the man responsible for Skye’s kidnapping. Yes, that was true. They had taken over the HYDRA base and handed it over to the military, mostly everyone on their side had been uninjured - just minor injuries or a couple of broken bones - and she had called in favours with Tony Stark so she could get the two kids into his safe house in Malibu. That was all true.

What wasn’t true was that John Garrett was dead. She had wanted to kill him, the man was deranged, he kept talking about _seeing everything_ and **understanding the universe**. At this point she was sure killing him would have been humane. But, Coulson had insisted on bringing the man in; lock him in a cell, get HYDRA intel out of him - by any means necessary.

Fury was going back into hiding - he was meant to be dead after all - but she wasn’t naive enough to think that he wouldn’t be lurking around.

Coulson had asked her to help _interrogate_ Garrett.

Right now she was tossing up whether she wanted to go with psychological or physical... She was leaning towards physical. Make him feel the pain Skye had felt when she’d been locked up for two days with no food or water. This was why she didn’t like to get attached to people, it made her want to hurt other people when the ones she cared about were upset.

“This one turns the grid opaque, this one mutes him-” Koenig - was this one Eric or Billy? - was pointing out the functions on a tablet as they approached Vault D. That was another lie; they were already at the Playground - Billy Koenig’s stupid name for the base. She would have preferred to leave Garrett in solitude for longer, but Coulson was impatient.

“I’m sure I can figure it out.” Vault D was dark, cold, they hadn’t even put a cot in Garrett’s side of the room. “You might want to wait out here if you’ve got a weak stomach.” Natasha suggested when Koenig took a step to follow her, that was all the warning he needed to turn on his heel, already looking disgusted.

“Hey there, Red.” Garrett greeted her like a cheery mother fucker when she turned the lights on. “I was startin’ to think you forgot about me.” She didn’t say anything, just sat on the single chair and watched him. She’d never met the man before the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D, but he had a reputation; questionable ethics - not uncommon, she had those whispers about her too - cocky, talks too much. “Did I ever tell you about the time I was held captive in-”

“I’ll give you two days.” Natasha cut in.

“Excuse me?”

“Two days.” The red-head repeated, getting up from the chair again. “I’ll give you two days to decide how much your life means to you - that’s how long you kept Skye in that cell - to decide if you want to talk willingly... Then I’ll make you talk.” She couldn’t help but smirk a little. “I’m good at making people like you talk; very thorough.” She turned the laser grid mute and opaque before leaving, cutting out anything he was going to say in response. Guess Koenig didn’t have to scurry off after all.

Coulson could wait two days; she’d just decided she was going to give Garrett a little bit of psychological torment before going for the physical. Two days was a long time to think of all things her reputation dictated she could do to torture someone. If he was a smart man Garrett would be scared.

She wasn’t betting on Garrett being a smart man.

* * *

 

“Bobbi?” The blonde was easing her fingers through Skye’s hair - a comfort her mother had done with her when she was young - when the girl spoke.

“Yeah, Miniature?” Blue eyes peaked down when she yawned and tried to bury herself in the blonde’s hold. They’d each showered in what had to be the most amazing shower Bobbi had ever been in, eaten something other junk food, their clothes were in the wash and they were wearing the softest bathrobes in the world. Tony Stark really knew how to stock a safe house.

“Will you stay?” Her voice was small and scared. “I don’t wanna be a baby, but I feels safer when you’re here.”

“Sure, Kiddo.” The tablet the kid had been playing games on was plucked out of her hands and placed on the bedside table. “Get some sleep.” She even tucked the covers around her.

Natasha was going to kill her.

Seriously, she was afraid the assassin might actually kill her; the red-head had claimed it had taken her eleven days to get Skye to sleep on her own again when she’d been gone, and here she was facilitating her separation issues. She never claimed to be a smart person, just one that cared about Skye.

When Skye let out a snore and whacked her in the arm in her sleep, Bobbi knew that even if Natasha did get mad if Skye became a dependant sleeper again, it’d be worth it because Skye would feel safe. Even if Bobbi’s skin did end up bruised and battered due to Skye’s sleeptime flailings.

Fuck! When did she become such a whipped little shove-over to an eleven-year-old?

* * *

 

Bobbi woke up alone. She’d been up most of the night, watching over Skye even though they were in a safe house, and she must have been more exhausted than she thought because she was usually a light sleeper, but she’d somehow managed to sleep through Skye waking up and leaving the bed. Though it did amuse her to find that the kid had tucked her in tightly and left a glass of juice on the bedside table.

After the initial fear of Skye not being next to her anymore her sleepy brain registered the voices coming from the living room. She took comfort in the sound for a moment as she drank her juice before realisation sunk in. They were meant to be alone; it was meant to be her and Skye in the safe house alone. Natasha said she wouldn’t be there to get them for a couple of days, at least one of the voices in the living room was male... Male-ish. It sounded funny. Bobbi didn’t dwell on the how odd the voice was, she grabbed her escrima sticks from the floor next to the bed and crept out of the bedroom slowly.

Skye was in her sights, sitting on one of the couches and chatting away to whoever was in the safe house with them... If they were in the safe house that supposedly only a dozen people knew existed they had to be someone Tony Stark trusted, right? That didn’t make her feel any better because she still didn’t know who it was. Plus, what if it wasn’t someone Stark trusted? What if it was someone from HYDRA who had broken in to take her kid again?

“Good morning, Miss Morse.” Bobbi jumped, gripping her escrima sticks tighter, looking for the man that was speaking. A smooth, British-accented tone that seemed to be coming from nowhere and everywhere. “It is nine-fifty-six AM-” holy shit, she’d slept to ten o’clock? “-in Malibu, the weather is a cloudy nineteen-point-five degrees celsius-”

“Who are you?” How could she protect her kid if she couldn’t even see the attacker? Though he didn’t sound like he was planning on attacking if he was giving her the weather. “Where are you? Show yourself and I won’t hurt you too badly.” The blonde slowly made her way to Skye who was watching her silently.

“I am Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, Miss, you may call me Jarvis.” The voice spoke again.

“Jarvis? Where are you, Jarvis?” She was reluctant to take her eyes of Skye to look for him. The girl in question didn’t even look afraid. She remembered that Skye had been talking to the man, what had he told her? She’d have to have a talk with Skye about trusting people too quickly.

“You misunderstand, Miss Morse.” Jarvis said, she circled the room, looking for any sign of him. “I am a creation of Mister Starks.” The blonde paused, letting him continue. “I have no physical presence, I am a program created by Mister Stark to assist him and those within his dwellings.”

“Prove it.” The words flew from Bobbi’s lips before she could fully register it.

“Miss Romanova informed me of a phrase to assure you that I can be trusted.” Romanova? Did he mean Natasha? “Is the Mockingbird in the sky, Miss Morse?” That was the code phrase, it relaxed her a little, but she definitely didn’t trust something she couldn’t see. “Would you like a tea or coffee, Miss Morse? For breakfast this morning Miss Skye has chosen pop tarts and Fruit Loops.”

“Um... I’m good. Thanks.”

“Jarvis is gonna teach me more about computer science.” Skye spoke up, following her to the kitchen. “Right, Jarvis?”

“I must confirm with Miss Romanova, Miss Skye, before allowing you access to such information.” Jarvis responded. Well, Bobbi supposed that was one thing Jarvis had going for him - him, it, did it have a generalisation to call it? - he couldn’t be suckered in by Skye’s puppy eyes if he was a program.

“This is insane.” Bobbi shook her head, inwardly cursing Natasha. A little warning about the talking computer program that apparently lived in the safe house would have been nice.

* * *

 

Coulson looked around his office at his meagre supply of Agents. “Status reports.” He requested, turning to May first.

“HYDRA is most likely scrambling; they’ve gone underground and are grasping at any SHIELD tech they can get their hands on after the Cybertek attack. We took out a big part of their research and science division, they’ll be looking for a new head to replace Garrett. We should strike while they’re down and take out as many of them as possible.” May reported, arms crossed over her chest and a glare permanently etched across her face.

“Noted.” Coulson nodded, turning to Natasha. “Romanov?”

“I’ll go get the teenager and the kid in a couple of days.” Natasha said, Coulson waited, his eyebrows raised, hoping for more information. Any information. “I don’t work for you, Coulson, I’m doing this as a favour, remember?”

“Right.” He clearly wasn’t getting anything more from her right now. Natasha had stated from the first minute that Fury had brought her in that she wasn’t joining the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D, anything she did was of her own free will and the second she didn’t agree with something being done, she’d walk. Right now Coulson was just happy that the assassin had a soft spot for Skye that was compelling her to help them. “Hand, any progress with the new recruits?”

“The recruits are a bunch of children, Coulson.” Hand rolled her eyes from the computer screen she was report from. “You’re forgetting I was stuck on brat duty before the fall, not at the Academy; most of these kids aren’t even eighteen yet, that’s why we had to send them back.”

“Most of them.” Coulson agreed, “what about the ones that are eighteen?”

“Nine turned out to be HYDRA-” Nine! That’s a big number when there was usually less than two dozen new students a year. “-I have one that’s willing though. Hartley, she’s a friend of Romanov’s little pet Morse.” One out of ten. He tried not to get depressed at that. It’s not like his recruiting was doing much better; Hand’s recruits had an excuse, they were kids. The Agents he’d been meeting with had been full Agents whose allegiances should have been stronger than a skull with octopus legs. “You can’t just throw this kid in the field, you know she’ll need training, Coulson.”

“I know.” He let out a sigh, “that’s another set of problems we can deal once we actually have people to train... Morse has another friend, in England. Joined the R-A-F, goes by Hunter, he might be worth a look at. He’s loyal to Morse and Skye at least.” Coulson turned to another screen, his last screen. “Agent Carter?” A Director and four - three since Romanov technically wasn’t an Agent - senior Agents. It was a long way to build S.H.I.E.L.D back up.

“The C-I-A is mostly focussing on trying to round up the Alien and Tesseract technology that scattered when SHIELD fell, I’ve got a lead on a former Agent that’s got something to sell.” The blonde started, looking tired. Sounding tired. Coulson made a mental note to give her a few days off when he could. It had to be tiring for her; a full load of work at the C.I.A, dodging the accusations and trying to prove herself for being a part of S.H.I.E.LD, plus a full field role for the fallen organisation. “I’ll try and get to him before the Agency, see if he has anything of interest.”

“Good.” If this was his standard of good, his standards had dropped a lot. “Carter, keep me posted.” The blonde woman signed off with a clipped affirmation. “Hand, send Hartley to us, we’ll get her cleared by Koenig, then get onto the rest of the students and Hunter. If we get Hartley, Hunter and Ward, that takes our recruits up to four... Yay.”

“Yes, Sir.” Hand signed off with a roll of her eyes.

“Romanov...” The red-head just stared at him. “Work on Garrett.” She turned on her heel and left. “May.”

“How long has it been, Phil.” Once the two were alone, she dropped her arms.

“I was hoping you had a few hours spare.” She didn’t, their Agency was a dozen people, they didn’t have a lot of downtime.

Instead of answering May walked over and flipped the switch to reveal the black wall as Coulson undid his tie. He picked up a pocket knife, took a slow breath, approached the wall.

He started carving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should really focus on writing this more, this is my last pre-written chapter!


	10. Bobbi in the Skye with Assassins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry! Like super duper sorry! It's been over 2 months and I'm super sorry that I haven't updated since last year, and that this is a super crappy chapter, and I'm just really sorry!!!  
> Please don't hate?
> 
> Is anyone still reading? Totally understand if you're not, it's been 2 months, but is anyone there?

Green eyes surveyed the two girls from a distance; Morse methodically moving through what she recognised as May’s Tai Chi, Skye no more than ten feet away reading on the StarkPad as Jarvis gave her quiet instructions. It was almost peaceful, domestic in a way. Looking at them now, Natasha - who had been trained since childhood to kill - found it hard to believe that HYDRA was making such a fuss out of them; the 0-8-4 and the teenager who managed to infiltrate and outsmart them.

“You’re sloppy, Teenager!” Is how Natasha announced her presence , smirking with it made Morse yelp and fall over. Definitely difficult to believe. “And you’re reaction time could use some work.”

“Natasha.” The escrima sticks Bobbi had scrambled for after falling were lowered. “Ever heard of knocking? Footsteps, breathing, making any noise at all?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Natasha rolled her eyes before letting them drift to Skye, who had stopped her lesson with Jarvis to watch them. “Hope you didn’t drink the good Scotch.” Her attention went back to Bobbi.

“No, I left the stuff worth a house and just drank the car-priced ones.” Bobbi shook her head. “You taking us to the new base now?”

“If you’re good I might even let you fly.” Natasha shot her a smirk before heading over to Skye. “Miss me, Mиниатюрный?” The emotions filtered across the girls face; happiness, relief, apprehension, before settling on determination.

“No.” Brown eyes turned back to her computer resolutely.

Natasha arched an eyebrow as Bobbi rolled her eyes. “Really? That’s not what you were saying yesterday. And every day for the last week.”

Skye let out a huff, her eyes cast down. “Maybe I missed you a little?”

“A little?” Bobbi just shook her head and walked off, muttering about taking a shower.

“Is this about me training Morse again?” Natasha leaned against the table, looking down at the kid who shook her head.

“I don’t like it, but Bobbi said it’s a good thing.” Skye shrugged, finally peaking up. “Sorry I was a jerk about it.”

“Morse tell you to apologise?” The red-head smirked.

“Yeah.”

“So you want to tell me what’s going on?” The determination settled back in Skye’s brown eyes. “Didn’t think I was coming for you?” The kid had abandonment issues a mile long, so that wouldn’t be a surprise.

“Bobbi promised you were.” As if that made it a certainty. “I just don’t want you think I’m a baby or you might get bored with me.”

“Skye.” Green eyes waited for Brown to meet with hers. “You are an impossible child to be bored with.” Natasha shook her head. “Child, Skye, not baby.”

A long moment of silence in which Natasha hoped Skye wasn’t contemplating hugging her. “Jarvis is teaching me about computers.” Skye spoke eventually. “He says he won’t teach me any programming until I have a full understanding of computers, so that kinda sucks, but I guess learning about computers isn’t so bad.”

“Miss Skye certainly has affinity towards computers, Miss Romanov.” The disembodied voice of the computer program sounded in the room.

“Wait until you get her on languages and codes; Binary in two days, Russian in a month,” Skye flushed under the praise. “Did you ever finish Morse Code?”

“Yeah, but it’s still boring.” The girl shrugged, “are we really going to a new base? And May and Coulson, Koenig, Ward, and everyone else will be there?”

“It’s called the Playground, and there’s another Koenig there.”

* * *

 

Dark eyes scanned the area. She had to be here. She had to! This was where Raina’s little red dot had led them, blinking steadily exactly where they were. And yet... Where was his little girl?

“I-don’t-know-” Rain choked out, struggling for breath as his hand wrapped around her neck. She had said the tablet was tracking his daughter, she had said S.H.I.E.L.D had his daughter, she had promised him his little girl back!

And if he couldn’t have his baby back, he would have to have her life!

“Hey there.” His grip on Raina’s throat vanished as he turned to the voice. “Everything okay?” The pretty red-head looked concerned, her green eyes flickering between him and Raina.

“Fine.” He put on a smile, waving at her. “Everything’s fine.”

“Right.” The red-head kept approaching, “you guys lost or somethin’?”

Cal eyed the woman; red hair, fair skin, green eyes - even from this distance - workout clothes, running shoes. Probably a local. “It’s my daughter.” He decided to divulge. “We were up here sight-seeing and she wandered off, you haven’t seen her have you?”

“Daughter?” The red-head kept approaching, he could see her brow furrowed. “How old is she?” Hold long had it been since his baby was stolen from him? How long had he been searching, trying desperately to put his family back together?

“Twelve.” She would be twelve and a half by now. “Dark hair, brown eyes, about this tall-” though he could only guess her height from the meagre offering of photos Raina had given him. Small for her age. “Have you seen her?” Because she was meant to be here. Raina promised she would be here!

“Sorry.” Red hair spun a little as she shook her head.

“She’s SHIELD.” Raina hissed at him, eyeing the red-head. His eyes narrowed, he knew he recognised her from somewhere. “An Avenger.” She’d been splashed across TV fighting aliens and HYDRA. She knew where his daughter was.

“Maybe if you head back to your car she’ll be waiting there?” She was trying to get rid of him! Trying to keep him from his daughter!

“Maybe.” He agreed with a friendly wave, starting to turn away.

Raina caught his arm and glared at him; “you can’t fight her. She’s an avenger, she’ll kill you and then what will happen to your daughter?”

“Not if I kill her first.” He turned again, preparing to attack the woman, but she already had a gun out, aimed at him.

“Who are you? Really?” The woman was getting closer to him, her gun aimed and undoubtedly loaded. “HYDRA? One of Garrett’s men?”

“Now now.” He held his hands up in surrender, “let’s not lose our heads.” Another step closer to him.

“If you hand yourself in, you have a better chance of survival.” The woman bargained, “if not, I kill you right now, Calvin Johnson.” She knew his name. There was someone in her ear feeding her information. “You’re a doctor, Calvin, that means you’re a smart man, so make a smart choice and go back to HYDRA and tell them that if they come after my kid again, I’ll kill them all.”

“Your kid?” Cal froze for a second before his mind hazed over.

He was trying to be calm, trying to keep his head, trying not let go of his tenuous control.

“She’s not your child!” The woman looked vaguely startled when he charged at her, but she recovered almost as soon as it happened, instead pushing him back easily.

* * *

 

Bobbi watched Natasha ever so carefully clean her gun; swiftly dismantling it, swiping blood off every surface. She’d seen the footage on a security camera; Natasha had shot a man and thrown him off a cliff. Bobbi didn’t feel too bad about it though, because he’d been after Skye. She wondered idly if she was becoming disenchanted with death; that was two people now that she knew Natasha had killed, Hunter had killed at least one in Mexico, Ward had shot two and she thought maybe she’d killed two or three in the end fight.

She hadn’t felt regret, or guilt, or remorse for the lives she’d taken, or seen the others take. Mostly she’d felt relief, vengeance, or sick satisfaction. Was she broken or something? Izzy had always said she wasn’t good with her emotions, was this part of that?

“Morse.” Her thoughts were interrupted by Natasha’s voice beckoning her over. The gun was gone - presumably clean now and the red-head was staring at her with narrowed green eyes. “You ever seen that man? In Mexico maybe? On the way here?”

“The one you just killed?” Bobbi frowned, she didn’t think she’d seen him before. She’d certainly remember if he was one of the people she’d seen in Mexico... She hoped. “Who is he?”

“I didn’t kill him.” Natasha’s eyes were still narrowed, studying her.

“You shot him close range and threw him off a cliff, I’m pretty sure he’s dead.”

“We can only hope.” The red-head shrugged, “I didn’t kill him. I didn’t leave him more than a minute chance of survival, but I didn’t kill him.” There was a difference? “On the TV, Jarvis.” The closest TV switched on of its own accord with a picture of presumably the now-dead man. “Calvin Johnson, Doctor, joined Doctors Without Borders about fourteen years ago and went to China. The Hunan Province.” Hunan Province? Why did that ring a bell?

“Skye.” Bobbi realised, staring at the man.

“He was meant to be there for six months, but he never returned.” File started appearing on the screen as the assassin spoke, passport details, flight details, a marriage certificate. “Married a local, had a kid, and then the massacre happened.”

“A kid?” Bobbi had a sinking feeling in her stomach, “as in a kid around the same age as...” As Skye. The same age as 11-year-old Skye who was of unknown origins and who could possibly be twelve. “Was that Skye’s-”

“That was a man who came here with a woman who is known to be linked to HYDRA, O who worked with the man who had Skye kidnapped, and he wanted Skye.” Natasha cut in with a glare that made Bobbi more than a little afraid. “Are you saying I should have handed her over just because he claimed paternity?”

“No.” Over her dead body! “But, if it is her father, how do I tell an eleven-year-old orphan that her father was just killed wanting to see her?”

“You don’t.” Natasha stood, muttering a command to Jarvis to turn off the information on Calvin Johnson. “Make sure you’re ready to go, we leave in fifteen minutes.”

* * *

 

Skye watched the clouds float underneath them with rapt fascination. Sure, she’d been on the not-a-bus-it’s-actually-a-plane when it was flying, but she’d been a little preoccupied with having just been kidnapped and almost dying and being rescued.

“Where is the new base?” The girl eventually questioned, tearing her eyes away from the clouds.

“That’s classified.” Natasha replied, it was the same thing she’d been telling Bobbi everytime she asked too. Something about security measures and making sure this didn’t happen again. “Come here, Mиниатюрный.” The assassin beckoned from the cockpit. Bobbi was up there too, Natasha had let her fly the plane.

“Yeah?” Skye leaned against the back of Bobbi’s chair, eyeing all the buttons and knobs and lights.

“You want to fly?” There was a wicked smirk on Natasha’s face that usually made her scared, but... Flying.

“Hey!” Bobbi was the one to protest, “why does she get to fly? She’s six years younger than me and you barely let me fly.”

“Maybe next time you’ll listen when I start instructing you.” Nat rolled her eyes.

“You were speaking Russian.”

“Not my fault you don’t know Russian, the kid knows Russian-”

“Because you taught her!” Bobbi huffed, Skye giggled, Natasha rolled her eyes again.

“Put this on.” Natasha handed Skye a headset and gently pulled the girl to sit between her legs. “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah.” Speaking into a headset felt weird when the person she was talking to was literally right behind her, the warmth of Natasha at her back keeping her safe.

“Хорошо. Положите руки здесь и ничего не трогай. Вы понимаете?” Natasha’s hands covered her own as Skye hesitantly touched the controller.

“Да.”

“Хорошо. Держись , нужно много сил.” Natasha eased her hold a little and grinned. May was going to be jealous, she’d been hoping to take the little Miniatures on their first flight. Of course, May had said something about waiting a few years, and responsible flight and child care, but they were perfectly safe so what harm could it do? “S-one-two to Playground, come in, Playground.” Natasha spoke into her headset after taking not of their coordinates.

“Playground to S-one-two confirmed.” Skye jumped at the new voice coming through her headset and Natasha had to grab the controls.

“S-one-two requesting landing.” Seemingly unconsciously Skye leaned back against Natasha, happy to just sit and watch the clouds through the large cockpit window.

“Landing confirmed, S-one-two, begin descent.”

“Morse, take Skye and buckle in.” Natasha ordered, letting one hand off the controls so Skye could stand up. “Neither of you are ready to try landing.”

Twenty minutes later the ramp was lowering on the Quinjet; “can I fly next time too?” Skye was bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“At least I didn’t let go of the controls.” Bobbi huffed a little, Natasha stopped, Bobbi nearly walked into her back, Skye did walk into Bobbi.

“You let the children fly?” May was standing at the bottom of the ramp with her arms crossed and a glare aimed at Natasha.

“Yep.” Natasha didn’t even sound apologetic. “Russian and flying beats History and Tai Chi any day.” The red-head grinned as she passed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Хорошо. Положите руки здесь и ничего не трогай. Вы понимаете = Good. Put your hands here and do not touch anything . you understand  
> Да = Yes  
> Хорошо. Держись , нужно много сил = Good . Hold on, you need a lot of strength  
> \--  
> Okay, so this isn't the end of Cal.. I think... He wasn't even meant to be in this chapter, he just sort of showed up... I don't think he's dead. Technically I think there was a chance for survival? I don't know anything about being shot in the stomach close range then thrown off a cliff, so I don't know the survival rates...  
> \--  
> Now for everything I missed;-  
> -Happy Christmas/seasonal religious holiday!  
> -Happy New Year!  
> -Happy Birthday to anyone who had a birthday (I turned 23 on January 4th)!  
> -I have become obsessed with the 100/Octavia Blake (my baby racoon eyes).

**Author's Note:**

> So there it is; the first chapter of the sequel to Students Of S.C.H.O.L.A.R... Hope you liked it, I have plenty more to come, it just depends on whether or not my computer decides to cooperate with me on if I can post every week. I'll say this time every week (Monday for me, but feel free to adapt day to fit your timezone), but don't kill me if I don't :D


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